WhatsApp is not huge in the United States, but it’s one of the most widely-used messaging platforms in the world. Many AI chatbot makers also make their own service available there, including Microsoft’s Copilot among others. ChatGPT is one of them, and now, it’s getting a few improvements.
ChatGPT is available to any user by texting 1-800-CHATGPT on WhatsApp, but now it’s getting a few improvements that bring it more in line in terms of features with the regular website/app version of the chatbot. Now, the WhatsApp version of ChatGPT accepts image inputs in addition to text—you can take a picture or send a picture in your gallery and it will process it and give you a text answer. This is akin to uploading an image to the proper ChatGPT app or website—you could upload a photo of a plant for identification, share a screenshot of an error message for troubleshooting, or even provide an image as a basis for a creative writing prompt.
You can also send voice messages now. ChatGPT will process these spoken queries and respond in text format within the WhatsApp chat. This is useful for those times where you might not be able to actually type out a prompt on the chat interface—I’m guilty of sending friends more voice messages than I probably should when I’m on the go, so if you’re anything like me, you might find this one useful.
In addition to this, OpenAI is also adding account linking for ChatGPT users on WhatsApp, effective tomorrow. This will allow Plus, Free, and Pro users to link their existing ChatGPT accounts directly within WhatsApp. If you have an account on a paid tier, you’ll be able to take advantage of the increased usage limits your account has, and perhaps even higher-end models, although OpenAI recently rolled out reasoning models to the free tier.
All you need to do is fire up WhatsApp and text 1-800-CHATGPT to get started.
Source: OpenAI
