Is ChatGPT open source?

If you’re wondering if ChatGPT is open source – we’ve answered that right here.

ChatGPT is a conversational AI tool powered by deep learning language networks. It was developed by OpenAI – one of the companies leading the artificial intelligence tools and services charge – and is currently gaining traction as one of the most popular AI tools.

The tool can be used for a variety of uses, including copy-writing, coding solutions, conversation, idea generation, and more. However, while ChatGPT is free-to-try at the moment, it seems as though it could become a paid service soon. In light of this possibility, you’d be forgiven for asking if ChatGPT is open source.

Is ChatGPT an open source application?

ChatGPT – despite being owned by a company named OpenAI – is not open-source. ChatGPT is currently not an open-source application as the source-code is owned by OpenAI. ChatGPT is based on OpenAI’s GPT language module, which is a private API. In mid-March 2023, OpenAI released GPT-4 which surpasses ChatGPT in advanced reasoning and other capabilities which we’ve covered. While OpenAI were initially a non-profit organisation, their business model developed and they stopped publicly releasing their projects as open-source.

This means that the GPT language model is not open-source. Essentially, if you’re an AI developer looking to implement a modified GPT in your own projects – you won’t be able to.

However, OpenAI do allow you to make use of the GPT-3 API, which is a packaged and moderated version of the language module. Being able to use GPT-3 as an API is incredibly useful, however it’s important to note that you will not have access to the original source code, only documentation.

It’s also worth noting that you can now join the waitlist to get API access to the latest GPT-4 model.

In the end, as ChatGPT is not open source, you might be better off seeking open source ChatGPT alternatives.