What is GPT-4? A Complete Guide

GPT-4 is an AI prodigy in the field of large language models. But what is GPT-4? And how does it work? Let's find out.

by AR Rakib • 29 February 2024

OpenAI made the term “GPT” a talk of the town in recent years. GPTs or Generative Pre-trained Transformers are powerful language models making waves in the world of artificial intelligence.

The latest iteration of this technology is GPT-4 which is a multimodal large language model that can generate text output from textual and visual inputs. GPT-4 is taking the capabilities of AI to a whole new level. But before diving into its capabilities, let's break down the name itself.

What does GPT-4 Stand for?

GPT-4 stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4. It essentially describes the model's function and training process:

  • Generative: It can generate unique text outputs, like blogs, essays, poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, emails, data tables, etc.
  • Pre-trained: It's trained on massive amounts of text data before being used for specific tasks.
  • Transformer: This refers to the specific neural network architecture used by the model.

Think of GPT-4 as a language learning machine on steroids. It devours information from books, articles, code, and other forms of text, and then learns to mimic and generate human-like language.

GPT-4 is introduced to handle more complex tasks with better accuracy than the previous versions GPT-3 and  GPT-3.5. It is showing us the true advantages of artificial intelligence.

A Brief History of GPT

The "4" in GPT-4 signifies its place in a lineage of language models. The first iteration, GPT-1, was unveiled in 2018, and each subsequent version has built upon the successes and addressed the limitations of the previous one. This continuous improvement process has led to the impressive capabilities of GPT-4.

Here's a quick timeline of GPT's evolution:

  • 2018: GPT-1 emerges, demonstrating the potential of
  • 2020: GPT-2 takes the stage, showcasing significant advancements in coherence and fluency.
  • 2022: GPT-3 enters the scene, boasting even greater capabilities and sparking widespread interest in AI-powered language applications.
  • 2023: GPT-4 arrives, pushing the boundaries of language understanding and generation with its enhanced features and functionalities.

This rapid evolution highlights the accelerating pace of innovation in the field of AI language models, with GPT-4 standing as a testament to this progress.

What's New in GPT-4?

Compared to its predecessors, GPT-4 boasts several exciting advancements:

Enhanced Capabilities

GPT-4 isn't just limited to text generation. It can translate languages, write different creative text formats like poems and code, and answer your questions in an informative way, making it a more versatile tool.

Improved Memory

Unlike earlier versions, GPT-4 can remember and reference information from previous sentences within a conversation. This allows for more coherent and contextually relevant outputs, similar to how humans hold information in working memory during conversations.

Evolving Safety Features

Developers are actively working on safeguards to mitigate potential biases and harmful outputs that can sometimes arise with large language models. This focus on responsible AI development is crucial to ensure the safe and ethical use of this technology.

These improvements make GPT-4 a powerful tool with vast potential applications across various fields.

How Powerful is GPT-4?

To understand GPT-4's power, let's talk about parameters. Imagine them as building blocks of knowledge. The more parameters a model has, the more nuanced its understanding of language becomes. Here's the comparison:

GPT - 3 GPT - 4
175 billion parameters 1.5 trillion parameters

That's a 10x increase in complexity! This allows GPT-4 to:

  • Grasp intricate relationships between words and concepts.
  • Generate more creative and diverse text formats.
  • Handle complex tasks like summarizing lengthy documents or translating languages with greater accuracy.

This significant leap in power positions GPT-4 as a game-changer in the field of AI language models.

GPT-4 vs. GPT-3: A Quick Comparison

While both GPT-3 and GPT-4 are impressive language models, they have their own strengths and limitations. Here's a quick comparison to help you understand the differences:

Feature GPT-3 GPT-4
Parameters 175 billion 1.5 trillion
Capabilities Limited creative text Diverse creative text
Context window Shorter Longer
Safety features Less developed More developed

As you can see, GPT-4 offers significant advancements in various aspects. Its increased capabilities, improved memory, and focus on safety features make it a more powerful and versatile tool compared to its predecessor.

When Was GPT-4 Released?

GPT-4 was officially unveiled in March 2023. However, it was generally available for everyone to use in July 2023. After a few months, OpenAI announced the GPT-4 Turbo. GPT-4 Turbo is more capable and has knowledge of world events up to April 2023.

How Can I Use GPT-4?

You can use GPT-4 with ChatGPT Plus subscription which is the premium version of OpenAI’s most popular text generator chatbot ChatGPT. Here are the steps you can follow to use GPT-4 from ChatGPT:

  • Create an account
  • Click on Upgrade Plan
  • Buy ChatGPT Plus or Team plan
ChatGPT pricing plan
  • Enjoy the power of GPT-4

If you want to use GPT-4 for free, you can check out Microsoft Copilot chatbot that uses GPT-4 Turbo model.

Is GPT-4 Free?

Yes, you can use GPT-4 for free with Microsoft’s AI tool Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat). It uses the advanced GPT-4 Turbo model as its underlying technology to serve your requests.But it’s still unknown if they provide us the full capabilities of GPT-4 or not.

How Much Does GPT-4 Cost?

You can access the full capability of GPT-4 for $20/month with a ChatGPT Plus subscription. You can also use it on a pay per use basis through the API. Here’s the pricing details for that:

Cost of GPT-4

Here, 1K tokens means about 750 words.

What Are the Limitations of GPT-4?

It’s a known fact that artificial intelligence has some limitations. GPT-4 is no different. Despite its impressive capabilities, GPT-4 still faces some limitations:

  • Factual accuracy: While GPT-4 has improved in verifying information, it's crucial to fact-check its outputs, especially when dealing with complex topics. I have seen that sometimes it generates information on its own that has no authenticity. It can even generates references that doesn't exist.
  • Complex reasoning: GPT-4 excels at generating text, but it still struggles with complex reasoning tasks that require understanding and applying logical frameworks.
  • Potential biases: As with any large language model, there's always a risk of GPT-4 reflecting biases present in the data it was trained on. Ongoing efforts to mitigate these biases are essential for responsible AI development.

These limitations highlight the importance of using GPT-4 responsibly and critically evaluating its outputs. As the technology continues to evolve, we can expect these limitations to be addressed, paving the way for even more powerful and versatile applications.

How Many Words Can GPT-4 Take?

The GPT-4 model can process around 4096 tokens at a time which is around 3000 words. Though they claim the word limit to be much higher than that, but that’s not the case. 

Final Words

GPT-4 represents a significant leap forward in the field of AI language models, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with machine learning. Its enhanced capabilities, improved memory, and focus on safety features hold immense potential across various industries.

It sparks exciting possibilities for the future, from revolutionizing how we interact with machines to transforming the way we create, learn, and access information.

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AUTHOR
AR Rakib

AR-Rakib is a content writer at Dorik, a web technology enthusiast with a Computer Science degree, and a fantasy nerd. He loves exploring the tech world to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and writes about remarkable findings.

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