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ChatGPT for free in 2025? Free ChatGPT vs. ChatGPT Plus.

ChatGPT adds "tasks" feature, U.S.'s new AI executive order, free ChatGPT in 2025, UK investigates Google Search dominance and more!

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Everyday AI
January 14, 2025

Outsmart The Future

Today in Everyday AI
7 minute read

🎙 Daily Podcast Episode: We’ve said in the past that free ChatGPT isn’t worth it compared to the paid version. So does that stand in 2025? Or has the free version improved enough to be usable? Give it a listen.

🕵️‍♂️ Fresh Finds: OpenAI adds executive board member, Apple joins consortium for data center, Gemini gets new memory feature and Grok.com goes live. Read on for Fresh Finds.

🗞 Byte Sized Daily AI News: ChatGPT adds new ‘tasks’ feature, U.S.’s new AI executive order, Microsoft launches CoreAI division and U.K. investigates Google Search dominance. For that and more, read on for Byte Sized News.

🚀 AI In 5: Here’s a sleeper feature inside Perplexity that’ll save you an insane amount of time. See it here

🧠 Learn & Leveraging AI: Is free ChatGPT enough in 2025 to be actually useful? Or does paid ChatGPT still reign king? We break down what’s best for your success in 2025. Keep reading for that!

↩️ Don’t miss out: Did you miss our last newsletter? We talked about the new U.S. AI chip export rules and NVIDIA’s criticism, U.K. unveiling new AI plans and Google’s automotive AI agent. Check it here!

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 ChatGPT for free in 2025? Free ChatGPT vs. ChatGPT Plus. 🧠

Last year, I said don't touch the free version of ChatGPT with a 10-foot pole.

Is it still THAT bad?

A TON has changed since OpenAI's '12 days of Shipmas' in December.

So is the free version of ChatGPT better? Or, are the new paid-only features TOO good to pass up?

We dive in and break it down.

Join the conversation and ask Jordan questions on ChatGPT here.

Also on the pod today:

• ChatGPT Features and Plans 🤖
• Updates from OpenAI ✨
• ChatGPT Advice and Recommendations 🤔

It’ll be worth your 49 minutes:

Listen on our site:

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Listen on:

Upcoming Everyday AI Livestreams

Wednesday, January 15th at 7:30 am CST ⬇️

Here’s our favorite AI finds from across the web:

New AI Tool Spotlight – Branding 5 is an AI competitor analysis, SoBrief summarizes books in 40 languages and AnythingLLM is an all-in-one desktop AI app.

Trending in AI – U.S. Antitrust officials have backed an argument in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman.

OpenAI – OpenAI has added a BlackRock executive to its board.

OpenAI’s reasoning model was revealed to sometimes ‘think’ in other languages and no one knows why.

Apple - Apple is joining a consortium to help develop next-gen data center technology.

Google - Google Gemini can now remember things about you with its Saved Info feature.


Google has also unveiled a new LLM benchmark called FACTS Grounding.

xAI – xAI’s new site for its Grok chatbot Grok.com has quietly gone live.

Amazon – AWS is spending $5 billion to launch data centers in Mexico.

Meta - Meta has released a report on how its open-source AI is evolving Healthcare.

1. Biden Signs Major AI Executive Order 📄

In a move to bolster the United States' infrastructure for AI, President Joe Biden has signed an executive order aimed at rapidly developing large-scale AI data centers and clean power facilities. The order mandates federal agencies to expedite the construction process while ensuring developers adhere to environmental standards and provide sufficient clean energy.

With the demand for electricity from data centers projected to skyrocket in the coming years, this initiative seeks to prevent potential blackouts and promote a sustainable energy transition.

2. ChatGPT Introduces Tasks Feature for Reminders and Requests 🗓

OpenAI is rolling out a new beta feature called "tasks," allowing ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users to set reminders and recurring requests, starting this week. Users can now ask the AI to remind them of important dates or provide weekly plans, showcasing a notable shift towards more autonomous AI interactions.

While the feature offers handy scheduling capabilities, it still operates within set limitations, such as periodic web browsing without continuous monitoring or purchasing functions.

3. CMA Takes Aim at Google’s Dominance in Search 🕵

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched its first official investigation of 2025 into Google’s stronghold on search services, sparking concerns about competition and innovation as AI technologies evolve. With Google controlling over 90% of search queries in the U.K., the CMA is scrutinizing whether the tech giant stifles competition and imposes barriers to entry for new players.

The investigation could lead to significant changes, including potential business break-up proposals, as the CMA seeks to ensure a fair playing field for businesses and consumers alike.

4. Alexa's AI Upgrade Hits Snags 😬

In a recent interview with The Financial Times, Rohit Prasad, Amazon's AGI lead, revealed that Alexa's generative AI transformation is encountering significant technical challenges with Alexa’s AI updates.

Key issues like fabricated responses, reliability, and sluggish response times are at the forefront, with Prasad emphasizing the need for "hallucinations" to be nearly nonexistent before the AI can relaunch as a fully functional agent.

5. OpenAI Scraps 'Politically Unbiased' Language from Policy Document ❌

In a recent update, OpenAI has removed the phrase "politically unbiased by default" from its economic blueprint for the AI industry, sparking discussions about the political implications of AI development.

The change comes amid ongoing debates about bias in AI, particularly criticisms from figures like Elon Musk, who claim that AI firms are influenced by liberal ideologies. OpenAI maintains that biases in its models are unintentional flaws rather than design features.

6. Microsoft Launches CoreAI Division to Supercharge AI Efforts 🚀

Microsoft is shaking up its engineering structure with the formation of a new division, CoreAI – Platform and Tools, aimed at revolutionizing its AI capabilities. Led by former Meta engineering chief Jay Parikh, this initiative merges Microsoft’s developer and AI platform teams, signaling a robust commitment to an "AI-first app stack" that could reshape the software landscape.

CEO Satya Nadella envisions Azure as the backbone for AI infrastructure, potentially transforming how developers create applications across various sectors.

7. NVIDIA Unveils AI Innovations for Healthcare at JPMorgan Conference 🏥

At the 43rd Annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, NVIDIA showcased groundbreaking advancements in artificial intelligence aimed at transforming healthcare, with innovative AI platforms designed to streamline clinical trials and drug research. Key collaborations with industry leaders like IQVIA and Illumina emphasize NVIDIA's commitment to enhancing healthcare analytics and genomics research through AI-driven solutions.

The partnership with IQVIA will leverage vast health data to accelerate clinical studies, while collaborations involving NVIDIA’s Clara and BioNeMo systems promise to broaden access to genetic data for research and therapeutic applications.

Save Hours Daily With This Perplexity Feature!

So many people are sleeping on this ONE feature inside Perplexity that’ll save you an insane amount of time.

We’re showing you Perplexity Collections and how to use it.

🦾How You Can Leverage:

The free version of ChatGPT? 

No longer falls under the ‘avoid at all costs’ category. 

Why? 

OpenAI just flipped their entire business strategy (And your free ChatGPT actually kinda slaps now.)

And a slew of pretty capable additions to the free plan there were previously for paid only customers. 

Plot twist: OpenAI doesn't care about beating other LLM companies anymore.

They're coming for your entire operating system.

The receipts? December's "12 Days of Shipmas" wasn't just a feature dump. It was OpenAI declaring war on Google's search monopoly and Microsoft's OS dominance. 

At. The. Same. Time.

This isn't your 2023 "don't touch it with a ten-foot pole" free ChatGPT anymore. 

The free version got UPGRADED. 

Should your biz be using the free version for real work? 

Probably not. 

Yet, the free version of ChatGPT in 2025 is now capable enough to give individuals a taste of what LLMs can do. 

Now that we’ve (kinda) caught up from the furry of AI updates that was December, we thought it was time to give the free version of ChatGPT a set of fresh eyes on today’s show. 

Here’s what you need to know. 👇

1 – Free ChatGPT’s New Superpowers 😶‍🌫️

The free tier just got that glow-up we never expected.

Finally got access to GPT-4o? YES.

But there's a catch - you get about 4-10 messages in a 5-hour window before it downgrades you to GPT-4o Mini.

Still better than the old GPT-3.5 snooze fest though.

Search capabilities? Now included.

And not just any search - we're talking maps, real-time data, and answers that don't make you click through 27 websites.

Document uploads? Yup. (Limited to about two docs per day but hey - it's something.) 

Canvas mode exists now for free users. (More on the limitations below) 

And voice commands? Standard mode only, but it's still lightyears ahead of Siri's "sorry, I didn't catch that" energy.

Try This:

Run your most brain-melting task through those precious GPT-4o messages. Maybe it's breaking down quarterly financials. Or debugging that Python script that's been haunting your dreams. 

Save the basic stuff for GPT-4o Mini, which is still capable. Track exactly where GPT-4o shines and where Mini does just fine. After a week, you'll know if that $20 monthly upgrade is worth it.

(Spoiler alert… it pays for itself multiple times an hour for us. Every. Dang. Day.) 

Real talk, though, one of the best parts of Free ChatGPT might be access to Canvas. We think it’s that good. 

2 – The “Well Yes, But Actually No” Features 🎯

Welcome to the gray zone, where free features come with more asterisks than a mobile phone contract.

You've got DALL-E! But only two images daily. And no editing. No variations. Just vibes. (Dall-E’s not good anyways, but hey, free users you get some! Lolz) 

Custom instructions stick between chats now. But the 8K token limit (about 6,000 words) means your AI gets amnesia REAL quick. 

And forget about trying to paste in long blocks of text into the freebie version of ChatGPT. 

The context window? It's like playing Jenga with your conversation. One wrong move and everything resets.

And that Canvas mode? Cool until you need to execute code or use custom GPTs. 

Try This:

Create a "limitation log" in your notes app. Every time you hit a free-tier wall, write it down. 

What were you doing? How long did the workaround take? After two weeks, multiply those minutes by your hourly rate. That's your ROI calculator right there. No spreadsheet needed.

3 – ‘The Premium Only’ Party 🧍

Let's talk about what you're NOT getting with the free version. Spoiler: it's the good stuff.

Advanced voice mode? Nope.

No screen sharing, no video analysis, no "hey ChatGPT, what's wrong with my printer take a look here homie?”

The o1 and o1-Mini models are completely off limits. 

These aren't just faster models - they think differently. They reason through problems instead of pattern matching.

Sora access? Zero. Zilch. Nada.

While paid users are generating AI videos that can look like Spielberg-esque B-roll (with enough regenerations), freebie users are on the outside looking in. 

And another gem that free users won’t have access to — ChatGPT projects. 

And forget about the "work with apps" integration. No seamless connection between ChatGPT and your desktop apps. 

Hope you like copy-pasting, shorties. 

Try This:

Time yourself solving a complex problem the old-school way. Maybe it's sorting through 50 customer support tickets or analyzing a competitor's website. 

Write down every app switch, every copy-paste, every context reset. Then imagine that workflow with seamless app integration and a 32K token memory. That's not a $20 monthly fee - that's a time machine for your workday.

So what’s our big takeaway? 

ChatGPT is now good enough

⌚

Numbers to watch

$30 Million

SEEQC has received $30M in funding to discover best ways to harness quantum computing.

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