ChatGPT launched in November 2022 and changed everything. Within two months it had 100 million users. No software product had ever grown that fast. Now, running on GPT-5.4, it is still the most widely used AI in the world — and it has taken a significant step forward.

What makes it good

ChatGPT is an all-rounder. It handles almost any task you throw at it with reasonable competence. Writing, summarising, answering questions, generating ideas, writing code, translating text, analysing documents. The breadth is genuinely impressive.

On the Plus plan at £20/month, you unlock full web browsing, which means it can search the internet in real time rather than relying on its training data. This makes it genuinely useful for research tasks that require current information.

The image generation is also built in. Ask ChatGPT to create an image for your social media post or marketing material and it will produce one without you needing to switch to a separate tool. The quality is solid.

GPT-5 and beyond: what changed

OpenAI's GPT-5 series represents a genuine step up from GPT-4o. The current flagship model, GPT-5.4, introduced a unified system that intelligently routes between fast answers and deeper reasoning depending on what the task requires. Hallucinations are reduced, instruction-following is sharper, and writing quality has improved noticeably.

For professional services use, the improvements to long-document handling and instruction accuracy are the most practically useful changes. GPT-5 is significantly better at following multi-step instructions, which matters when you are using it for structured tasks like drafting reports or reviewing contracts.

OpenAI also introduced Codex (GPT-5.2 Codex, now GPT-5.3 Codex), a coding-specialist variant for teams building software or automations. Most business users will not need this, but it is worth knowing it exists if you have technical requirements.

The community advantage

One thing that sets ChatGPT apart is the sheer scale of its user base. Because so many people use it, there is an enormous amount of tutorials, prompt guides, and community knowledge available. If you get stuck, someone has already written a guide on how to get the best out of it.

This matters practically. If you are new to AI, starting with ChatGPT means you are never far from help.

Where it falls short

Writing quality is still the most common criticism relative to Claude. ChatGPT produces polished, competent prose, but for nuanced business writing, Claude's output often requires less editing. GPT-5 has closed the gap, but Claude still has the edge for long-form professional writing.

The free tier has become more limited over time. If you use it heavily, you will hit usage caps fairly quickly and find yourself being pushed towards a paid plan.

Pricing

Free: Access to a capable version of GPT-5 with usage limits. Plus: £20/month. Full access to GPT-5.4, web browsing, image generation, and higher usage limits.

Who should use it

ChatGPT is the best starting point for anyone new to AI. It is the most capable all-rounder at its price point, and the community support means you will never struggle to find help. The web browsing alone makes Plus worth the cost for anyone who does regular research.

For pure writing quality, Claude might serve you better. But for everything else, ChatGPT remains the benchmark.

ChatGPT