OpenAI will now allow paid users to choose from a number of specialized GPTs, or generative pretrained transformers, with each bringing a different personality and a unique level of performance to enhance the conversation.

Users will access the standard ChatGPT interface from where they can use the “@” symbol and see a popup where there will be a list of custom GPTs. There might be a GPT that helps with coding, or offers health advice, or specializes in generating images.

What’s kind of cool is that the GPT that has been selected will meld seamlessly with the conversation. “This allows you to add relevant GPTs with the full context of the conversation,” OpenAI said in a tweet when announcing the feature.

Last November, the company started giving people the opportunity to create such GPTs, which apparently could be developed without necessarily having any skills in coding. The developers were able to build the GPT, test it, refine it and then let it loose on the platform for all users. They could be made for private use, restricted use or available to everyone. Here’s a tutorial.

The upshot is that OpenAI hopes to provide a way for these custom GPTs to make money once the GPTs in question become indispensable for certain needs. Right now, they aren’t so popular, with web analytics showing they only make up for about 2.7% of ChatGPT’s global web traffic since they were introduced in November.

According to TechCrunch, a small setback was the fact that the platform was overrun with chatbots of a puerile nature, developed to answer queries on sexual matters. That violated OpenAI’s terms. Other developers focused mainly on politics, building GPTs that answered in the style of certain politicians, which also transgressed OpenAI’s terms.

The company expunged the apps, but it’s likely that as the feature becomes more widely used, the company will be knocking them down as they come up on a constant basis since anyone can release their own GPT. OpenAI was hoping the main focus would be on education and productivity or just fun, but the general public had other ideas.

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