AI is widely used in some circles, but the general public is not aware of or interested in these tools. Some of the largest AI companies have changed their tactics to get more users on board. Let’s look at which previously paid AI tools are now free to use.
AI is not so popular with normal people
When you follow news on a particular topic, sometimes you feel like everyone is talking about it. However, the BBC shows that less than 2% of Brits use ChatGPT on a daily basis. Some regular people use these tools, but they could attract many more users from this huge, untapped market.
Part of these companies’ strategy is to offer more tools to their free users. In the past, free users have been able to get a “taste” of the engine in a number of ways. Anthropic, for example, allows users to send a few messages to Claude before being banned. ChatGPT offers free users its previously stable model and lets them try out the newer model for a few questions.
Although they are unwilling to change their existing approach, many AI companies are realizing that they need more users to grow. Because of this, they have changed some of their tools to be usable on the free plan. This gives free users access to some things they didn’t have before. It’s a great time to be a free AI user.
ChatGPT: Custom GPTs and uploading files and images
ChatGPT is probably the most well-known AI tool on the internet. Until now, free users were limited to using the previous model and could not perform internet-based searches. They were also not allowed to upload images or files, so users had to copy and paste the things they wanted to share with ChatGPT.
Now free users can explain what they want to ChatGPT using images and snapshots. Additionally, if you’re working on a file and need feedback or a new take on it, you can just send the entire file to ChatGPT. There are still limits on the number of files you can upload as a free user, but it’s better than not having that option at all.
In an earlier version, ChatGPT released what it called “Custom GPTs,” which were LLMs trained to do a specific thing really well. For a few months, the use of these custom GPTs was locked behind a paywall, but the company’s latest update made them available to free users as well.
There are many custom GPTs you can try, from marketing-based models to ones that help you write code in a specific language. Unfortunately, the option to create your own custom GPT is still locked behind a paywall, so you’ll have to make do with what’s available locally.
Claude: Larger context window, API tool system and system prompts
Not to be outdone, Anthropic’s Claude has also gotten some neat new toys for free users. The base response system is much better, using 200,000 tokens instead of the previous 100,000. Double the token size means Claude can reliably parse up to 150 pages of text. Claude has always been good at parsing data, and this addition makes it easier to handle much larger documents. This could even make writing a novel with AI much easier.
The API tool system has been on developers’ wish lists for some time. API tools make it easier to plug Claude into something like a database, allowing the AI to perform its own actions on the data there. It’s important to note that these tools need to be defined by the developers, as Anthropic doesn’t provide any user tools.
Developers also have free access to system prompts, which allow them to structure Claude’s responses in a specific way. This could be beneficial to you if you want to make Claude’s personality a little different, or if you’re trying to reduce the irrelevant information Claude gives you in a response.
Anthropic has also found that this version of Claude has a much lower rate of hallucinations than the previous one. While AI hallucinations will always be a problem, this is a step in the right direction to reduce the frequency with which AI invents “facts.”
Unlike OpenAI, Anthropic seems to be adapting its free offering to encourage more developers to use Claude. Only time will tell if there are benefits to the improvements the free offering provides.
Perplexity’s pages provide users with ready-made content
While AI can develop content from scratch, Perplexity AI has taken it a step further with its Pages offering. The tool lets users put together a fully functional page and make it available to anyone interested in the topic. Instead of asking ChatGPT or Claude to write content that you have to format, Perplexity does it all for you – and for free.
While this is a big step toward easy information sharing, the question remains as to who this particular tool is for. The tool creates pages, but access to those pages is restricted to other Perplexity users. And by users, we mean all users, not just those you shared the link with.
Despite the drawbacks, it’s still a pretty handy tool if you’re working on a research project and want to quickly have a model to show someone else. One advantage is that the tool includes all the online references it finds to generate the page, limiting the occurrence of hallucinations. While the tool won’t replace Wikipedia as a reference site anytime soon, for something that free users can play with, it’s pretty impressive.
Free AI offerings are getting better
With each iteration, the free AI becomes more user-friendly and powerful. Even if you’re using a slightly older model than the current one, you still get access to other tools that make the LLM more efficient at your needs. Tools like Perplexity’s Pages are a great way to make generated information easier to read and digest. Whether it’s ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity, these free AI tools are useful in different ways and for different people. Perhaps one of these tools could help you with one of your projects.
