ChatGPT

ChatGPT is the AI chatbot made by OpenAI. Launched in late 2022, it introduced hundreds of millions of people to conversational AI and became the reference point most newcomers have in mind when they think of “AI”.

Under the hood, ChatGPT is powered by OpenAI’s large language models, such as the GPT-5.6 line. You type a request in plain language and it responds with text, and in its fuller versions it can also handle images, search the web and use tools.

ChatGPT’s success set the template the whole industry now follows. It is also the product OpenAI leaders point to when discussing what worked — and, in the case of its short-lived plugins, what did not.