OpenAI says ChatGPT for Android is set to arrive soon

OpenAI's widely popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, is set to arrive on Android devices soon. To recap, the iOS version of the app was launched back in May. The app is currently available only on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

On July 22, OpenAI confirmed that it will make the official Android version of ChatGPT available for download on Google Play Store next week. In the meantime, you can pre-register to get notified when GhatGPT is available for your device.

The Android version of ChatGPT: What to expect?

The internet is teeming with fake ChatGPT apps that trick users into paying for expensive subscriptions. Aside from this, the unofficial apps have been spreading harmful or fraudulent content, while taking advantage of the Android ecosystem.

The official Android version of ChatGPT will probably give these GPT-like applications a run for their money. On the downside, the Android version of ChatGPT is expected to have regional restrictions like its iOS counterpart.

Nevertheless, the Android ChatGPT will deliver an experience akin to the iOS version. In other words, it will be able to sync conversations and offer preferences across devices. While details about the app's exact launch date are still scarce, OpenAI has confirmed its slated to rollout soon.

The ChatGPT Plus plan subscribers will exclusively have access to a new feature called customised instructions. Currently, this feature is in its beta phase. Once available, this feature will enable users to give specific instructions to the AI chatbot.

Moreover, the app will come with the latest upgrades from the iOS version. This includes improved history search functionality and Bing integration. Last week, ChatGPT reportedly faced its first traffic drop since its arrival. It will be interesting to see whether the Android platform will help improve the traffic again.

According to the folks at GizmoChina, ChatGPT's Android version could initially launch in the United States. The report predicts the app will eventually arrive in other regions as well. Notably, you can go for the premium ChatGPT Plus service if you are willing to shell out $20 per month.

Bing AI will remain free

However, Microsoft says its ChatGPT-4-based Bing AI will continue to remain free. It is worth mentioning here that ChatGPT-4 has a paid subscription. Taking to Twitter last week, CEO, Advertising and Web Services at Microsoft, Mikhail Parakhin stated, "Yep, Bing will stay free, of course."

The American tech giant recently announced Bing AI's enterprise edition, which isn't free. Understandably, netizens began to raise questions about the future of Bing. In fact, some believed Microsoft could be planning to charge for Bing.com's AI capabilities.

Much to their relief, Microsoft has reaffirmed its commitment to offering "free Bing AI." So, you can continue to access Bing.com AI via Windows Copilot and Edge browser for free. Microsoft is gearing up to expand Bing Chat to more products and the company will not charge users for using the AI.

"Bing AI will remain free via Bing.com, Microsoft Edge side panel, Windows Copilot and other places," a Microsoft engineer told Windows Latest's owner Mayank Parmar. To those unaware, Bing is based on Microsoft and OpenAI-trained LLMs (large language models).

Furthermore, these models are neural networks and trained on a considerable amount of data including research papers, books, and more. Bing has also been trained on its search results. So, the AI is capable of searching the web, crawling the data, thinking, and responding to the user.

Microsoft has been rolling out a slew of free improvements to Bing.com lately. Every update is making Bing AI better than the previous version. To recap, the company rolled out a new update last week, which added a "Visual Search", an image recognition feature to Chat. This feature can describe images using OpenAI's GPT-4 model.