A little over two weeks ago, OpenAI announced it would supercharge the free version of ChatGPT, giving users access to features previously limited to ChatGPT Plus subscribers at no cost. The company said it would be rolling out the upgrade to users in the coming weeks, and the wait is finally over.

On Wednesday, OpenAI shared in an X post that all free ChatGPT users can now access the features announced at the Spring Updates event, including web browsing, vision, data analysis, file uploads, and GPTs.

The browse feature allows ChatGPT to pull answers from the web, which means you can ask questions on current events, expect that the information in ChatGPT's answers is up-to-date, and even use the provided links to verify the accuracy of the response. 

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Browse turns on automatically when you ask for a prompt that requires access to the web. For example, using my free ChatGPT account, I asked, "What is the weather today in NYC?" As you can see below, ChatGPT browsed the web to generate an answer. 

Vision lets you share images with the chatbot and get more advanced insights. For example, OpenAI shared that you would be able to "take a picture of a menu in a different language and talk to GPT-4o to translate it, learn about the food's history and significance, and get recommendations."

As the name implies, the data analysis feature means free users can now use ChatGPT to get insights, create interactive charts, and visualize data, all features previously reserved for ChatGPT Plus subscribers. With file uploads, you can upload spreadsheets, documents, presentations, research papers, PDFs, and more, and use ChatGPT to analyze, interpret, transform, and extract information from them.

Also: ChatGPT vs. Copilot: Which AI chatbot is better for you?

Lastly, free users can now access GPTs via the GPT store, meaning you can try chatbots customized to suit a specific purpose or task. For example, AllTrails GPT can help you find trails for your next outdoor adventure, and the Canva GPT can help you design projects.

The addition of all these free features makes ChatGPT Plus -- the chatbot's$20 monthly premium subscription option -- a bit less enticing. There are still some perks to the subscription, however, which you can read more about here.

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