How to use and add plugins to ChatGPT

If you have already been using ChatGPT to help streamline your workflow or using the AI assistant with research. ChatGPT plugins provide a fantastic way to add extra dimension to your questions. The Plugin Store was recently introduced by OpenAI and is already full of useful enhancements to the artificial intelligence launched earlier this year.

If you are a developer considering building your very own ChatGPT plugin you will need to join the waiting list to be accepted. After which you will then be able to publish your new plugin to the store for ChatGPT users to add to their experience. Currently OpenAI allows you to install up to 3 ChatGPT plugins at anyone time. But you can easily disable and enable others to keep changing what you need for each search. Selecting the most relevant plugins depending on how you are using ChatGPT whether it be for coding, writing essays, research or more.

“We’ve implemented initial support for plugins in ChatGPT. Plugins are tools designed specifically for language models with safety as a core principle, and help ChatGPT access up-to-date information, run computations, or use third-party services.” says OpenAI.

Plugins enable ChatGPT to do things such as

Retrieve real-time information; e.g., sports scores, stock prices, the latest news, etc.
Retrieve knowledge-base information; e.g., company docs, personal notes, etc.
Assist users with actions; e.g., booking a flight, ordering food, etc.

How to add plugins to ChatGPT

This quick guide will show you how to add, install and enable enable the plugins feature on ChatGPT.

1. First you need to have a ChatGPT account which I’m presuming you already have if you’re reading this article. If you don’t you can find out more information on setting one up
2. Once you’ve logged in through your account go to the menu in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen for your username.
3. Select “Settings” and then “Beta features”from the menu on the left is in the image below.
4. Slide the Plugins button to the right until it turns green to enable ChatGPT to use third-party plugins that you enable.
5. Plugins can only be currently used with GPT-4 at the current time so you’ll need to select this option.
6. If you do not see an option for GPT-4 you will need to upgrade to a ChatGPT Plus account which currently costs $20 per month.
7. Mouse over the GPT-4 and you will see the menu appear below make sure that Plugins is selected when you carry out a request
8. To install ChatGPT plugins use the drop-down underneath the GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 buttons and go to the Plugin Store. Here you can search for a wide variety of different currently available plugins as well as browse the latest and most popular.

There are already pages and pages of plugins available covering everything from Wolfram to gif searches. You can even ask ChatGPT to provide more information about plugins and how they can be used.

Things to consider when using ChatGPT plugins

It is worth remembering that Plugins are powered by third party applications that are not controlled by OpenAI. Be sure you trust a plugin before installation. Plugins connect ChatGPT to external apps. If you enable a plugin, ChatGPT may send parts of your conversation and the country or state you’re in to the plugin to enhance your conversation. Finally ChatGPT will automatically chooses when to use plugins during a conversation, depending on the plugins you’ve enabled. For more information on using plugins check out the video below.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Popular ChatGPT plugins

Here are a few of the most popular ones:

Wolfram Plugin: This plugin integrates with Wolfram Alpha and Wolfram Cloud to provide detailed computational and factual information. It can perform complex mathematical calculations, provide scientific data, and answer factual questions about a wide range of topics, from geography and history to art and astronomy. The Wolfram plugin is particularly useful for tasks that require precise, data-driven answers.
Video Insights Plugin: This plugin allows ChatGPT to interact with video content from platforms like YouTube. It can provide transcripts of videos, summarize video content, and extract metadata from videos. This is particularly useful for users who want to understand the content of a video without watching it in full, or who need to extract specific information from a video.
Web Pilot Plugin: This plugin enables ChatGPT to interact with web content in a more sophisticated way. It can visit web pages, extract specific information from them, and interact with the content in various ways. This is useful for tasks that require up-to-date information from the web, or for tasks that involve interacting with web-based services.
Translation Plugin: This plugin provides high-quality translation between various languages. It can translate user input into another language, and can also translate responses from ChatGPT into the user’s preferred language. This is particularly useful for users who are communicating in a language other than their native one, or for tasks that involve multilingual content.