Previously, you needed to either sign up for an OpenAI account, or log in using a Google, Microsoft or Apple account in order to get access to ChatGPT. Now, you can make use of the chatbot without signing in. Of course, this access is only limited to the already free one based on GPT-3.5 model, and the latest GPT-4 is still locked behind a subscription.
Of course, there are still some limits to using ChatGPT without an account, though not necessarily in ways that users will immediately notice. OpenAI says in the announcement blog post that it has “introduced additional content safeguards for this experience, such as blocking prompts and generations in a wider range of categories”. This may have something to do with trying to prevent abuse, such as with the whole Taylor Swift deepfake situation from earlier in the year.
With that in mind, it’s unclear why OpenAI would make an already relatively open ChatGPT even more so. The first thing that comes to mind is to increase the amount of training data that can be generated, as the need for an account may still have been a deterrent for some people from trying the tool out.
Of course, if you don’t want your prompts to be training material, you can opt out of it by hitting the question mark at the bottom right corner, going to setting and then toggling off the option to “Improve the model for everyone”. As you would expect, this option is difficult to find, and doesn’t even appear if you have the browser window in anything less than a full-sized window.
(Source: OpenAI)
