During my first interactions with ChatGPT Plus, I wasn’t entirely convinced that OpenAI’s $20 per month subscription was worth it. While it was quite fun to test the upgraded chatbot powered by GPT-4, the free version seemed good enough for most prompts. I’m not a software developer who needs a nimble coding assistant; I’m a nerd who uses chatbots to have fun conversations with artificial intelligence and brainstorm a bit.
On May 12, OpenAI announced that users who pay for ChatGPT Plus would gain access to beta versions of the chatbot with web browsing and plugins. Curious about the new features, I eschewed a night of takeout, ate some gross leftovers, and spent money finally upgrading my personal ChatGPT account. Until now, the web browsing functions load slowly and sometimes the answers still contain false information.
Even with that in mind, I’ll probably keep my subscription because using a chatbot to comb the web is engaging and useful in more ways than one. Thinking about getting a ChatGPT Plus subscription to play with the web browsing beta? Here’s how to enable the experimental feature and a few tips to get you started.
How to access ChatGPT with web browsing
It only takes a few steps to enable the web browser version of ChatGPT. First log in to your OpenAI account or create a new user profile. Remember, you have to pay $20 per month for ChatGPT Plus to use beta features.
Then go to chat.openai.com to get ChatGPT. In the lower left corner, click the three dots next to your email address, then choose Institutions And Beta features. Make sure the button next to Surf is green and switched to the right.
The last step is to go back to the main ChatGPT page, launch a new chat window and click GPT-4 option at the top of the screen. Move your mouse over “GPT-4” and select Browse to let the chatbot search the internet for answers to your questions. Subscribers are allowed a limited number of web browsing prompts per day.
Advice for experimenting with the beta
Before you get started, it’s important to understand the difference between the new plugin features and the ChatGPT beta for web browsing. Plugins are more specific and involved than the web browsing option. For example, you could theoretically order your groceries through Instacart or book your flights on Expedia using ChatGPT plugins. I need to test more before recommending them, but what I’ve seen from browsing the web makes my subscription worth the money.
How do you use it? Let’s start with something nice and simple. I’m excited to play the new Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game, so I asked ChatGPT for tips on how to get it right when you start out. It searched the web for “the new Zelda game beginner’s guide,” then the chatbot simulated clicking on this helpful article on Polygon, then visited the site’s home page several times, as well as the YouTube page. While the chatbot got a little lost along the way, blaming “time constraints” for not providing a more comprehensive answer, ChatGPT was able to paraphrase key details from Polygon’s strategy guide.
Looking for a horror movie to watch on Netflix? ChatGPT recommended Psycho (1960) based on this Paste article and Quiet (2016) based on a Uproxx blog. Maybe you want to see something in the cinema? I asked for showtimes at nearby AMC for after work. The chatbot remembered I was in San Francisco based on a previous prompt and found multiple nighttime impressions of The Super Mario Bros. movie And Blackberry.
