Prior to September 2021, only data up to that point had been used to train the artificial intelligence-powered system.

Some premium users will be able to access news and ask the chatbot questions about current affairs.

According to OpenAI, the feature will soon be available to all users.

Additionally, OpenAI revealed earlier this week that the chatbot will soon be able to converse with users through voice.

To create convincing human-like responses to user queries, ChatGPT and other similar systems use huge amounts of data.

They are expected to change the way people search for information online dramatically. However, the viral chatbot’s “knowledge” has been frozen in time until now. Its database is based on the contents of the internet as of September 2021. Real-time browsing of the Internet was not possible.

If you ask the free version when the last earthquake struck Turkey, or whether Donald Trump is still alive, it replies “I’m sorry, but I cannot provide real-time information”.

Some potential users have been turned off by ChatGPT’s inability to take recent events into account.

In the absence of this functionality or capability, you would have to go to Google, Twitter, or your favorite news source. “Now, you can treat it as a source of the latest news, gossip, and current events,” says University College London professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.

The main implication is that it will absorb a lot of incoming questions and inquiries that go to search engines or news outlets.

The platform could be a double-edged sword, however, according to Mr Chamorro-Premuzic.