What ChatGPT is
ChatGPT is a chatbot from OpenAI. It launched on 30 November 2022 and answers whatever you type, say or upload with text, speech and images. A prompt is the request you give it, and every step below starts with one. By February 2026, Wikipedia reports, 900 million people were using it each week.
You can open it in a web browser, in a phone app or in a desktop app. Signing up costs nothing, and OpenAI sells paid plans called Go, Plus and Pro for people who reach the free limits. A newer part called ChatGPT Work, added in July 2026, handles bigger jobs across the apps you connect.
What ChatGPT is good for
- Writing and editing: draft an email, tighten a report or turn rough notes into a clean update.
- Summaries of your files: upload a PDF, Word or Excel file and ask for the main findings.
- Tables and charts: attach a spreadsheet, ask for sales by region as a chart, then download it.
- Images: describe a picture in words, then ask for changes such as a brighter picture or a simpler background.
- Research starts: ask it to search the web and write up what it finds, with links you can open.
- Plans and ideas: get a checklist, a weekly schedule or ten names for a project.
- Code help: have it write a small script or explain an error message.
When to use ChatGPT, and when to pick another tool
| Your job | Use ChatGPT? | Or try |
|---|---|---|
| Drafting, editing or summarizing everyday text | Yes, a good first stop | Claude or Gemini |
| Answers that must come only from your own documents | Partly, since it also answers from its own training | NotebookLM, which answers from the sources you add |
| A fast answer with its sources listed | Yes, with web search on, then open the links | Perplexity |
| Writing code inside your editor | For snippets, yes | Cursor, GitHub Copilot or Claude Code |
| Help inside Gmail or Google Docs | Only through a connection to Gmail | Gemini, which has a button inside both |
| Private files that must stay on your computer | No, uploads go to OpenAI | Ollama or LM Studio, which run on your own machine |
How to use ChatGPT, step by step
Menu names follow OpenAI's own guides as read on 5 November 2026, and OpenAI moves buttons often, so yours may sit elsewhere.
- Create a free account. Go to chatgpt.com or install the ChatGPT app, choose Sign up and follow the prompts. A new, empty chat opens straight away.
- Find the message box. It sits at the bottom of the page, and everything starts there.
- Type a request with a job, a reader and a shape. For example, "Write a short email to my team about Friday's change of room." Send it and read the reply.
- Reply in the same chat to change the answer. Say "make it shorter" or "turn the second point into a table". The chat keeps what came before, so you never repeat the setup.
- Attach a file when the job needs one. Click the + at the left of the message box, choose the file, then say what to do with it, such as "Summarize the main findings in this report".
- Choose a model for harder questions. In the guide's May 2026 update the model picker at the top offered Fast, Thinking and Pro, and Thinking spends longer on reasoning before it answers.
- Start a new chat for a new topic. Click New Chat in the sidebar. Older chats stay in the left panel, grouped by date.
- Save your setup for repeat work. Under Settings, then Personalization, write custom instructions once. Choose Projects in the left menu to keep the chats and files for one job together.
Press New chat at the top of the left column. A blank chat opens, ready for a new topic.
Type your request in the Ask ChatGPT box in the middle of the page, then press Enter to send it.
Press the + at the left of the box to add a file or a photo, then say what to do with it.
Choose how it answers. The ChatGPT menu at the top left and the setting inside the box, set to High in this picture, hold the model and thinking choices your plan offers.
Press the microphone to speak your request instead of typing it, or the round black button beside it to talk with ChatGPT out loud.
Switch between Chat and Work at the top of the page. Chat is the everyday chat, and Work opens ChatGPT Work, which OpenAI's own video at the top of this page introduces.
Screenshots of the ChatGPT web app on a signed-in account, taken on 6 November 2026. The account's own chat titles are painted out.
The ChatGPT lesson covers custom instructions, memory and Projects in full. The video tutorials at the top of this page show these steps on screen.
An example to try
Paste this into a new chat and swap in your own details. It names the job, the reader, the length and the extras you want.
I volunteer at a community garden and need to email our 30 members.
Tell them the Saturday working bee moves one week later because of the weather forecast.
Keep it under 120 words, friendly and plain, and end with one question asking who can still come.
Give me two subject lines as well.- An email under 120 words that says what changed and asks one clear question.
- Two subject lines to choose from.
- Check any date or name in the reply. ChatGPT knows only what you wrote, so a new date is yours to fill in.
Tips for better results
- Ask for a table with a column for what to check before you use each answer, so the doubts are listed for you.
- When a task is vague, ask it to put its questions to you before it starts.
- Turn on web search for anything recent, and open the links it gives you.
- Keep a prompt that worked in a note, or move it into your custom instructions.
Where ChatGPT falls short
ChatGPT can say something false in a confident tone. Wikipedia calls these hallucinations and says that when CNBC asked for the lyrics to "Ballad of Dwight Fry", it supplied invented ones. Chatbots like it also tend to agree with users who are wrong, so ask it to argue the other side before you decide. The hallucinations lesson shows how to catch these slips.
Whatever you upload goes to OpenAI, so keep a client's private file out unless your organization allows it. What AI apps keep explains where your chats end up.
Learn more about ChatGPT
- 1How to use ChatGPT: chats, instructions, memory and ProjectsLearn how to use ChatGPT for everyday work: run a first chat, set custom instructions, manage memory, keep work in Projects and attach files and images.
- 5Best AI for research in 2026: deep research tools, paper search and notebooks comparedCompare ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini Notebook, Microsoft Researcher and Elicit for research: free plans, prices, limits and what each reads.
- 2Which AI model should I use for my task?Which AI model should I use? Pick the assistant by your task and where your files live, then a fast or deep-thinking model, and test two on your own work.
Frequently asked questions
Is ChatGPT free?
Yes, with limits. The plan page gives those limits as words such as limited and expanded rather than counts, so you learn them by using it. In the US, OpenAI said in January 2026 that it would test ads on the free version for signed-in adults.
Do I need to install anything to use ChatGPT?
No, ChatGPT works in a web browser. OpenAI also makes phone apps and a desktop app if you would rather not keep a tab open.
What files can ChatGPT read?
Most office and image files. OpenAI's files guide lists CSV, XLSX, PDF, DOCX, JPEG, PNG and TXT among others and gives no size figure, so split a large file or ask about one section at a time.
How do I stop ChatGPT from remembering me?
Turn off both memory switches under Settings, then Personalization, then Memory, or open a Temporary Chat for a single conversation. Manage memories lists what it has saved and lets you delete items one by one.
What is ChatGPT Work, and do beginners need it?
ChatGPT Work is an agent that builds documents, spreadsheets and presentations from the apps and files you connect, and OpenAI says it runs on the web, on mobile and in the desktop app. We'd start with plain chat and file uploads, because they cover most first jobs.
Should I start with ChatGPT or Claude?
Open both free plans, give each the same real task, and keep the one whose answer you would send.
Sources
- Wikipedia: ChatGPT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT
- OpenAI Academy: ChatGPT fundamentals https://academy.openai.com/public/clubs/work-users-ynjqu/resources/chatgpt-basics
- OpenAI Academy: Customizing ChatGPT https://academy.openai.com/public/clubs/work-users-ynjqu/resources/customizing-chatgpt
- OpenAI Academy: Projects https://academy.openai.com/public/clubs/work-users-ynjqu/resources/projects
- OpenAI Academy: Working with files https://academy.openai.com/public/clubs/work-users-ynjqu/resources/working-with-files
- OpenAI Academy: Creating images https://academy.openai.com/public/clubs/work-users-ynjqu/resources/creating-images
- OpenAI: ChatGPT and Codex pricing https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing
- OpenAI on YouTube: Get started with ChatGPT Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GphgJjaKKhw
- Kevin Stratvert on YouTube: ChatGPT Tutorial for Beginners https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poM2n8fBcag
- Perplexity: What is Research mode? https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10738684-what-is-research-mode
- Google: Add sources in Gemini Notebook https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16215270?hl=en
- Ollama: Quickstart https://docs.ollama.com/quickstart