ChatGPT Code Interpreter – how to use and how to activate plugin

ChatGPT Code Interpreter – how to use and how to activate plugin
Rory Greig Updated on by

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Looking to find out about how to use the ChatGPT code interpreter plugin? Then you’ve come to the right place. Now known as Advanced Data Analytics, the name change helps capture the impressive range of tools ChatGPT offers for programmers, marketers and beyond. We’ve been playing around and experimenting with this new Advanced Data Analytics plug-in, and have been incredibly impressed with the versatility it offers.

ChatGPT Code Interpreter has the potential to significantly augment and improve workflows for programmers. For a while, you had to join the waiting list in order to be accepted, but it is available for ChatGPT Plus users. At the time of writing, there is no free version of ChatGPT code interpreter so it will cost you $20/month if you want to use it. While there’s no official version, we’ve found one developer who is currently working on a free alternative that might offer similar capabilities to the OpenAI option. We’ll keep you updated as this develops.

ChatGPT Code Interpreter can be used for the following:

  • Solving complex maths problems
  • Image conversions
  • Data analysis and insights
  • Accessing files (files supported: .txt, .pdf, .doc, .docx, .jpeg, png, .mp4, .avi, and more)

Let’s get into how to use the plugin itself, what it can do, alongside how you can access it.

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How to use ChatGPT Code Interpreter for data analysis

Once you have activated the plugin, it’s incredibly easy to use. In fact, it’s just like using ChatGPT, only you can ask it more specific, data-led questions. As per the official ChatGPT website, we recommend asking for help with data analysis, and image conversions. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also ask it to edit a code file. Note: files will not persist beyond a single session.

To help, we have provided an example of how to use ChatGPT Code Interpreter to do data analysis. Firstly, head over to the GPT 4 and select Code Interpreter from the drop down. Once you have the Code Interpreter selected, your ChatGPT console won’t appear much different than normal. However, you’re going to be able to drag and drop files into your text entry box.

For example – we downloaded a public data set of video game sales in recent years. We exported the data as a .CSV file and dragged it into code interpreter.

We inputted the following prompt to accompany the file upload: “Using the dataset I gave you before – can you tell me if there is any correlation between genre platform based on Global_Sales”. After this, the code interpreter began to evaluate the file and determined categories and metrics.

After this, we went a step further and asked ChatGPT to create art using the data.

Make sure you have room on your fridge for what ChatGPT code interpreter can do – this is only a slice of the pie, and you will be sure to have creative and productive uses for the tool.

It seems as though once you have the plugin selected, you can talk to ChatGPT as you normally would. It will then translate your questions into data, and provide you with a clear answer.

How to access the ChatGPT Code Interpreter Plugin

Image taken by VideoGamer of how to access ChatGPT Code Interpreter

In order to access ChatGPT Code Interpreter, you have to head on over to ChatGPT and click settings in the bottom left.

  • Open ChatGPT settings
  • Open Beta features
  • Enable Code interpreter

OpenAI recently announced that “Code Interpreter will be available to all ChatGPT Plus users over the next week.” This means that if you want to access Code Interpreter, you simply have to become a Plus subscriber.

ChatGPT Code Interpreter plugin capabilities

Data Visualization is the ChatGPT Code Interpreter’s forte

While the Code Interpreter is incredibly powerful at crunching through numbers and analysing any data-set you throw its way – it’s also fantastic at visualising this data. Like Wolfram, the code interpreter is extremely proficient at creatively turning data into a digestible, comprehensive format. There doesn’t even need to be more prompt engineering involved.

Here’s an example from Ethan Mollick’s Twitter:

The ChatGPT Code Interpreter can convert files into different formats

The code interpreter plugin allows you to turn files from one format type to another. While this can be used to convert MP3 files into other formats, for example, there’s more impressive things you can do with the code interpreter. Here’s an example of one of them:

Credit: @eyishazyer on Twitter

The above Tweet exemplifies how you can use the plugin to convert an image to a text-file, meaning it’s incredibly easy to translate PDFs into editable text-files with ease.

The ChatGPT code interpreter plugin can run clean, Python code

The code interpreter is actually a Python interpreter in a “sandboxed, firewalled execution environment along with some ephemeral disk space.” This is great news because it means you won’t mistakenly use faulty code from ChatGPT since you can test it out first. Effectively, all of the visualisations of data in the code interpreter are generated using Python.

While ChatGPT recently made (nearly) all plugins available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, one of the notably missing plugins was the ChatGPT Code Interpreter. As the plugin is still in its Alpha, this is an understandable decision, as realistically this could shape up to be one of the most important plugins and developments in AI.

How to access ChatGPT Code Interpreter plugin via Discord

If you want to get access to the ChatGPT Code Interpreter plugin without sitting through the waitlist – you can access it through Discord.

If you’re the owner of a Discord server – you can head over to the GPT Assistant bot which loads ChatGPT into your server. The bot actually already has access to the Code Interpreter plugin, so you can use it as you would normally on the regular ChatGPT web-service.

Credit: Shroominic on Twitter

What can ChatGPT code interpreter do?

ChatGPT Code Interpreter has a range of functions. OpenAI says that it is especially proficient in certain areas. These are…

  • Solving mathematical problems, both quantitative and qualitative
  • Doing data analysis and visualization
  • Converting files between formats

We already know that ChatGPT is a proficient coder, able to generate code from input given in natural language. This plugin builds on that ability with a slightly altered response format. It also allows the chatbot to actually use Python, and present the results within the dialogue box.

In a demo of the plugin on OpenAI’s blog, we see ChatGPT doing a range of tasks with proficiency. For example, they upload a large data set and ask ChatGPT to interpret it for them, identifying trends, plotting them and comparing variables.

The speed at which ChatGPT does it is astonishing. Not only generating the code but then running it and presenting the results. The company lists the ability this plugin has to “make completely new workflows effortless and efficient”.

From this we can see that the plugin will function in a similar way to Github Copilot X, with the idea being to use the AI as a tool to make workflows more creative and efficient.

When you ask it to do something such as plot a function, it responds with the graph itself and a drop-down mention option to ‘show work’. If you click this, you then see the exact code it created and ran to generate that graph.

This clearly has the ability to not only improve workflows for coders, but also to make coding itself far more accessible and intuitive for a wider audience and we can’t wait to see it rolled out further.

What is the ChatGPT code interpreter?

ChatGPT’s code interpreter is a plugin available for ChatGPT if you’re a Plus subscriber. Effectively, it’s a Python coding environment that is manoeuvred by ChatGPT. However, despite it being called the code interpreter, it’s not necessarily a coding tool at heart.

As displayed above, the ChatGPT code interpreter can be used for a huge range of functions including data visualisation and robust data generation. What’s important to note is that you don’t actually need any coding experience to make use of the code interpreter.

For example, we used the tool to compare a list of the top ChatGPT mispellings by Google Trends data. Typos such as ChatGDP and ChatGBT were then mapped against how similar the misspelt phrase is to the original query. This helped us map how clones of the original were leveraging the popularity of the search term.

While ChatGPT is generally a text generation AI, the code interpreter opens it up to using Python as a new mode of input and output. This means that analysing and creating data structures is no longer limited to outsourcing to other plugins such as Wolfram Alpha, and you can instead do it all from inside ChatGPT.

Is ChatGPT code interpreter the same as Advanced Data Analysis?

As of late September 2023, OpenAI renamed its ChatGPT Code Interpreter. It’s now known as Advanced Data Analysis following its announcement of ChatGPT Enterprise. The function is exactly the same, as before, ChatGPT’s Advanced Data Analysis helps users do write code, do complex maths, and upload and download files. It also, as the old name implies, allows users to generate and interpret code.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use ChatGPT code interpreter?

For now, the ChatGPT code interpreter is only available to a select few. However, you can sign up to the waiting list now and ensure you get your hands on the tool as soon as possible.

Is ChatGPT code interpreter be available to everyone?

OpenAI has not given a date for the wider rollout of any of ChatGPT’s plugins but has confirmed that it will happen eventually.