ChatGPT has just regained the ability to browse the internet to help you find information. That should (hopefully) help you get more accurate, up-to-date data right when you need it, rather than solely relying on the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot’s rather outdated training data.
As well as giving straight-up answers to your questions based on info found online, ChatGPT developer OpenAI revealed that the tool will provide a link to its sources so you can check the facts yourself. If it turns out that ChatGPT was wrong or misleading, well, that’s just another one for the chatbot’s long list of missteps.
Before the change, ChatGPT could only answer questions based on data from before September 2021. That’s the latest information it was trained on, so if you asked it when the iPhone 15 was released, it wouldn’t be able to give you an accurate date.
Now, that should no longer be a problem. It’s taken a long time to get to this point, but given ChatGPT’s history of breaking things, it’s probably better to be safe than sorry.
Interestingly, it’s not the first time ChatGPT has had the ability to surf the web in its hunt for answers. OpenAI originally added this capability in spring 2023, hoping that it would expand the usefulness of its AI tool.
Things didn’t quite go according to plan, though. Crafty users discovered that it could be used to bypass paywalls in order to read paid-for content without stumping up the cash. OpenAI swiftly pulled the feature in July.
Now it’s back, and OpenAI has presumably taken steps to curb such errant behavior on its chatbot. If you want to take it for a spin, one thing remains unchanged, however: you’ll need to have a paid ChatGPT Plus or Enterprise account.
The change comes hot on the heels of ChatGPT maker OpenAI adding the ability for the chatbot to interact with images and audio, and marks another entry in a feature-heavy few days.
Whether or not it will be able to address some of the biggest criticisms of ChatGPT — mainly surrounding the accuracy of its responses and its tendency to spread misinformation — will presumably become clear over the next few weeks and months.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.