OpenAI has announced a major change to its AI-based chat service. ChatGPT is now available for use without signing up for an account.

Technically, this isn't the first AI-powered service to go down this route, Microsoft made Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) free for all users without an account in May 2023.

ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, has amassed 100 Million users in over 185 Countries. It's not surprising that the service is now available without an account, as the move will likely attract more people to try the bot, which in turn will help the company to train its AI models based on the data from the conversations.

You can now use ChatGPT without signing up for an account

The login experience is still there, it has been made optional. While creating an account is free, you will need to provide your email address to sign up for the service. In addition to this, you will also have to give your phone number, which is used to verify your account. These requirements may be annoying for those who value their privacy, so it is good that we can now use ChatGPT without an account.

Speaking of privacy, it is not a complete incognito experience, because OpenAI says that ChatGPT will use the data from your chats to improve its models for everyone. But, don't worry, there is an official way to disable this data collection.

How to opt out of ChatGPT using your data to train its AI?

Just click on the question mark button in the bottom right corner of the web page, and select Settings. Toggle the option that says "Improve the model for everyone". That's it, you have opted out of training ChatGPT.

Ready to try ChatGPT without signing up? All you need to do is visit https://chat.openai.com/ and start chatting with the bot. You can create an account for free at any time and gain access to the additional features that it provides. The experience uses the GPT-3 model.

What are the limitations of using ChatGPT without an account?

You will not be able to save your chats without logging in to your account, which means you cannot view your chat history either. The accountless experience also lacks an option to share chats with other users. It cannot generate images either. You are limited to text-based interactions, i.e. you cannot have voice conversations with the AI, or use custom instructions in your queries to generate replies. Signing up for an account removes these restrictions. If you need additional features, you may want to take a look at ChatGPT Plus.

OpenAI's announcement also mentions that there are some additional content safeguards for the accountless experience, to block prompts and generations in a wider range of categories. According to a statement sent by an OpenAI spokesperson to TechCrunch, these restrictions are in place to prevent generation of inappropriate or harmful content. That doesn't really clarify as to what qualifies as harmful content, and TechCrunch speculates that even OpenAI may not know how people may use the free service.

I was able to use ChatGPT without an account already, but the new experience is being rolled out gradually, so it may take a while for it to become available to you.

Now that you don't have to sign up for using it, will you use ChatGPT?