"Ever since ChatGPT came along, many people have realised that machines can do more than just perform calculations; they can also write, explain things and sometimes provide surprisingly clever answers. OpenAI’s AI assists with writing, learning, programming and creative work – and in doing so regularly sparks amazement, discussion and, occasionally, the question: How on earth does it do that?"
This is ChatGPT’s answer to the question of what defines AI. But what are ChatGPT’s limitations, and what opportunities does it offer businesses? We answer 14 frequently asked questions.
1. What are the latest developments regarding ChatGPT?
(04/2026)
Since its launch, ChatGPT has evolved from an AI chatbot into a comprehensive AI platform offering assistant, research, coding and app functions. OpenAI regularly publishes updates on its AI models and introduces new features here on the blog. For example, agentic AI is now being used, enabling even more complex and multi-step queries to be answered conclusively. Here are the latest developments at a glance:
2. How does ChatGPT work?
“ChatGPT is an example of a large language model and, put simply, works like a highly advanced language assistant that has been trained using vast amounts of data. Rather than ‘thinking’ like a human, the system calculates the probabilities of which word makes the most sense to come next. In this way, an answer is generated step by step, tailored to the context and previous information in the conversation.”
This is how ChatGPT answers the question. These large language models (LLMs) are AI systems that have been trained on billions of text examples to understand and generate language. The current GPT-5 generation models are among the most powerful in the world and combine text, image, audio and file processing into a single, multimodal application. When processing queries, the AI draws on machine learning methods and, in particular, artificial neural networks. The model independently recognises patterns and connections. The more data and computing power available, the better such a model can be trained. There has been enormous progress in this area in particular in recent years. Responses appear more direct and contextually accurate, less ‘evasive’, and are more visually structured.
3. Does ChatGPT speak German?
Yes, ChatGPT speaks German fluently, as the language model has been trained on a vast amount of German-language text. The quality is now almost at native speaker level, particularly with the newer models.
How exactly can ChatGPT be switched to German? It’s quite simple: if you type your question directly in German, ChatGPT will provide its response in that language. Alternatively, you can explicitly ask the chatbot to reply only in German. ChatGPT is trained to be multilingual and can communicate in many other languages besides German. But be careful: whilst ChatGPT almost always produces error-free English sentences, grammatical errors occasionally creep into its output in other languages, such as German. For less commonly spoken languages or dialects, the phrasing may appear less precise. However, as the general recommendation is to proofread and check all content generated by ChatGPT before using it, these minor errors should be easy to correct.
4. What are ChatGPT’s strengths?
ChatGPT’s strength lies primarily in its combination of precise language processing, advanced contextual understanding and multimodal capabilities. The AI supports more complex workflows through improved reasoning and initial agent-like functions, and is well-suited as a versatile assistance system for knowledge-intensive and creative tasks.
The three strengths mentioned at the start are particularly important for increasing usage by users in both their personal and professional lives. ChatGPT was one of the first AI tools to make complex language processing accessible to millions of people via a simple chat interface. Above all, its high level of user-friendliness has played a decisive role in the widespread adoption of ChatGPT. The resulting collection of valuable user feedback and data forms the crucial basis for the further development of the models. Here is an overview of ChatGPT’s key strengths:
- Advanced language processing: ChatGPT recognises tone and intent more accurately and can formulate content in a context-specific manner
- Enhanced multimodality: processing and combining text, images and files within a single workflow; content can be analysed and processed directly
- Agent and workflow capabilities: Support for multi-stage tasks (research, structuring, text creation, coding processes) with partial automation of work steps.
- Context and memory capabilities: improved retention and utilisation of conversational context across longer interactions.
- Productivity and automation benefits: creation and optimisation of emails, content, analyses and code, as well as support for recurring tasks.
5. What are ChatGPT’s weaknesses?
As ChatGPT itself explains in the interview, the models’ main weaknesses are hallucinations, the timeliness and sources of data, as well as data protection and security. This is just an excerpt from the answer to the question:
“ChatGPT can generate incorrect or fabricated information and does not have a genuine understanding of the content; instead, it relies on statistical patterns. Furthermore, it depends on the quality of the input, is not always up to date, and is only of limited reliability when it comes to complex or sensitive decisions.”
When using ChatGPT, it is also important to bear in mind that the data you enter is processed on external servers. You should therefore exercise particular caution when dealing with sensitive or personal information. The lack of reliable sources is currently a particular point of criticism.
"GPT-5 is significantly less prone to hallucinations than our earlier models. (…) When using the ‘Think’ feature, GPT-5’s responses are ~80% less likely to contain factual errors than those of OpenAI o3.” (OpenAI, 2025)
ChatGPT and Hallucinations
ChatGPT is capable of producing hallucinations, i.e. inventing incorrect, false or incomplete information without indicating that it is, in fact, a hallucination. The content, which is often unverifiable, appears convincing but is factually incorrect. Human verification therefore remains essential and involves a significant amount of research effort.
As LLMs are based on training data, their knowledge is limited to a specific point in time. Many models, including ChatGPT and Gemini, now offer web browsing or API integrations as standard to incorporate real-time data. This reduces outdated responses but does not rule out hallucinations. To measure this weakness, standardised testing methods such as SimpleQA, open benchmark platforms and comparative evaluation studies are carried out. The findings provide valuable insights into uncertainties and necessary adjustments. Benchmarks in use at OpenAI cover the following areas, amongst others:
- Software development: SWE-bench is an established benchmark for realistic bug-fixing and coding tasks.
- Mathematics and logical reasoning: Tests such as AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination) and GPQA (Graduate-Level Problem Solving and Question Answering) measure mathematical and scientific reasoning skills.
- Multimodal tasks: The MMMU benchmark (Massive Multitask Multimodal Understanding) tests combined image-text reasoning tasks and assesses how well a model solves tasks that combine text and images.
- Health: HealthBench is a newer medical evaluation benchmark that measures how accurately models respond to medical questions and whether they provide reliable answers in sensitive scenarios.
You can find more information and tips on AI hallucinations in our new article: “Wrong answers from AI? How AI hallucinations arise.”
6. Is everything ChatGPT says true?
“No. ChatGPT generates responses based on statistical patterns from training data and may therefore provide incorrect, incomplete or fabricated information (‘hallucinations’).”
ChatGPT itself makes no secret of the fact that errors and inaccurate content can occur. Consequently, the AI does not automatically provide accurate information. The AI’s responses should be treated with caution and, particularly when it comes to information and facts, should always be verified. This is demonstrated not least by the ‘hallucinations’ already discussed. Specific examples can be found in our article "The 6 biggest chatbot mistakes and tips on how to avoid them".
7. What regulations apply to ChatGPT?
“ChatGPT is subject in particular to data protection regulations (e.g. the GDPR), the EU AI Act, copyright and liability laws, as well as internal company guidelines on responsible use.”
The rules governing the use of ChatGPT include both OpenAI’s terms of service and the relevant legal framework. The minimum age for use is generally 13+ with parental consent; otherwise, it is set at 18. Furthermore, no unlawful content may be used. In terms of liability law, providers such as OpenAI contractually limit certain responsibilities, as the question of who is liable for incorrect content and resulting damages, such as financial losses, is particularly relevant from a legal perspective. AI-generated content is also frequently criticised, as it can imitate existing works or disseminate copyright-protected content. It is also often unclear whether content generated purely by AI enjoys copyright protection.
Within the European Union, regulations such as the GDPR and the EU AI Act are relevant. The EU AI Act did not come into force until 2 August 2025 and imposes new requirements on AI systems such as ChatGPT (European Commission, 2025). We have summarised all the key points regarding these regulations in our article on the EU AI Act.
Interim conclusion: Remarkably talkative, but to be taken with a pinch of salt
ChatGPT now provides correctly formulated answers in most cases. Provided one is aware that the AI’s information is intended primarily to provide an initial overview and should not be taken at face value, the obvious advantages – such as 24/7 availability and the ability to carry out complex, multi-step tasks – cannot be dismissed.
8. Is ChatGPT free to use?
ChatGPT is available in both a free and a paid version. The standard model available depends on the plan; the model currently used in ChatGPT is the GPT-5 series. Users can access the model via the web interface or mobile apps. Paid plans generally offer higher performance, larger context windows and additional tools; in the free version, access to the higher-tier models is limited.
New for 2026: The globally available ChatGPT Go subscription tier sits between the free version and ChatGPT Plus. With its 2026 pricing model, ChatGPT is clearly positioning itself as a freemium product, offering tiered service levels:
04/2026
“Building on our strength in the retail banking sector, our corporate banking business now accounts for over 40% of our revenue and is expected to be on a par with the retail banking sector by the end of 2026. Codex currently has 3 million weekly active users, our APIs process more than 15 billion tokens per minute, and GPT-5.4 is driving record engagement across all agent workflows.” (OpenAI, 2026)
No registration is required to use the AI as easily as possible. You can start a chat straight away, whether in English, German or another language: simply ask any question to start a conversation with the AI. However, to access the full functionality of ChatGPT, it is still a good idea to sign up. This includes
- Saving chat history
- Use of personalised features (Memory, Custom Instructions)
- Access to advanced tools (files, image features, voice mode)
- Higher model and usage limits.
9. What alternatives are there to ChatGPT?
Three years after ChatGPT was first launched, there are now many well-known providers offering alternatives on the market, including Google Gemini, Claude (Anthropic), Microsoft Copilot and DeepSeek. As the saying goes: “The competition never sleeps.” As a huge number of competitors have now established themselves on the market, we have compiled a detailed overview in the article “20 Alternatives to ChatGPT”. However, OpenAI’s competitors are not exclusively the big players, but also smaller providers such as Mistral, a French AI start-up, or open-source providers, which are gaining in importance.
The following chart shows how ChatGPT compares with its competitors in the market:
A large number of providers use OpenAI models (e.g. GPT-5) via APIs and integrate them as one of several AI components within their own products and workflows. The trend is moving away from single models towards dynamic multi-model pipelines. Examples include:
- Perplexity AI: GPT-5.2 to GPT-5.4 (selectable; alongside Sonar, Claude 4.6, Gemini, etc.) for AI search with source citations; multi-model selection available
- Microsoft Copilot: GPT-5 models (multi-model router; GPT + Claude in the Researcher Agent), particularly for enterprise workflows
- GitHub Copilot: GPT-4.1 (standard), GPT-5 Codex, GPT-5.5 (from April 2026) for agentic coding, code review, IDE and CLI integration.
Models also differ in terms of pricing, information retrieval (with or without access to online sources), supported languages and the ability to code. We explain the detailed differences between chatbot providers in the previously mentioned article “20 Alternatives to ChatGPT”. Anyone particularly interested in Google’s chatbot (formerly Bard, now Gemini) will also find useful information in our article “What is Google Gemini (formerly Bard)? Everything you need to know.”
10. What are the possible uses of ChatGPT?
The most common applications of ChatGPT include text generation, automated customer communication, knowledge research and learning support, programming, and creative tasks such as storytelling or content creation. (OpenAI Report, 2025) ChatGPT processes over 2.5 billion messages daily, which equates to approximately 29,000 queries per second (Business Insider, 2025. The GT Instant variant is suitable for quick, everyday tasks such as research and summarising, whilst the Thinking variant enables deep reasoning and is suitable for complex analyses and multi-step tasks. An overview of the main areas of application:
- Research and in-depth analysis of issues and subject areas, with direct references to sources
- Preparation of analyses, summaries and reports
- Creation of tables based on unstructured data sets
- Database queries: When it comes to data analysis, ChatGPT can help formulate the right database queries in day-to-day work
- Idea generation and brainstorming, e.g. for product ideas and campaign concepts
- Creation, explanation, correction and optimisation of programming code
- Media generation: Images, videos and audio tracks
- Websites, apps and workspace agents for the complete automation of complex, recurring business workflows
- Creation of websites and apps
- Spelling and grammar checks
- Obtaining tips and advice as a conversational assistant
For specific business processes, it is important to use Business or Enterprise GPT. These offer advanced privacy and compliance settings, as well as workspace agents and connected third-party apps.
New features for 2026
OpenAI is releasing new models and features for ChatGPT at an ever-increasing pace. The model lifecycle has accelerated significantly. Whilst GPT-5.1 was only removed from ChatGPT in March 2026, version GPT-5.5 – the most powerful Frontier model to date – is now already in use. The benefits: it is suitable for professional work, with improved multi-step reasoning, tool usage, coding, research and agent-based workflows. We have compiled some key feature updates from 2026 here:
Further details on ChatGPT updates, releases and features can be found on the OpenAI blog.
11. Where does ChatGPT get its knowledge from?
ChatGPT is based on a large language model (LLM) that has been trained on vast amounts of text using deep learning, a branch of machine learning. Thanks to this training, ChatGPT can hold complex conversations and generate relevant responses. These are generated using an artificial neural network, which resembles the neurons in the human brain in terms of its structure and functioning. This network consists of interconnected nodes, the neurons, which process and pass on information. According to OpenAI, the training data includes publicly available internet content, licensed content from third-party partnerships, and data provided by users and researchers, including:
- Books (novels, non-fiction and textbooks)Websites (online forums, blogs, news sites)
- Academic works (specialist and research articles, publications)
- Licensed third-party content (OpenAI partnerships)
- Social media and other digital content
- User interactions (unless disabled; Enterprise customers are excluded by default)
OpenAI reasoning models are also trained using reinforcement learning.
For up-to-date information not included in the training data, ChatGPT uses the following mechanisms:
- Web search: Real-time retrieval of up-to-date content from the internet
- Deep Research: systematic analysis of hundreds of sources with citations
- Tool Use/File Upload: Run code, analyse files and use connected apps.
12. How can you use OpenAI’s models?
ChatGPT can be used directly via the website, via the API, via third-party integrations, or via Workspace Agents and AgentKit.
Direct Use
ChatGPT can be used directly via chatgpt.com without registering. A free account is required for advanced features. OpenAI currently offers the following plans: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise on request.
Important to note: Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise are ad-free; Free and Go may contain adverts. Business and Enterprise customers are not used for model training by default.
Via the API
Developers can integrate all GPT models into their own applications, chatbots or workflows via platform.openai.com. Usage is billed on a token-based system, including multimodal inputs such as text, images and audio.
Via Third Parties
The Business and Enterprise plans offer native integrations with over 60 apps, including Slack, Google Drive, SharePoint, GitHub and Atlassian. Furthermore, many external platforms such as Zapier and Notion integrate directly with OpenAI models.
You can find all the details about the new model family and how it differs from GPT-4 in our article on GPT-5.
13. ChatGPT and copyright – how do they fit together?
The issue of copyright in relation to artificial intelligence is not a new one, but the success of ChatGPT has intensified the debate: Two key questions are at the heart of the matter:
- Who owns the content generated by ChatGPT, and
- does training on third-party texts infringe existing copyright?
AI-generated content does not automatically qualify for copyright protection in the EU and the US, as there is no human creative process involved. In practice, this means that users should not reproduce content from ChatGPT without verifying it. At a regulatory level, the EU AI Act (in force since August 2025) requires providers such as OpenAI to ensure transparency regarding training data and to present a strategy for compliance with copyright law. Several lawsuits brought by authors and publishers against OpenAI are still ongoing and highlight the complexity of the legal situation.
14. How can I use ChatGPT personally?
Whether for creative purposes in everyday life or for professional use in business: the use cases are extensive and varied, and according to OpenAI, ChatGPT is now widely used in work, education and everyday life. (OpenAI, 2025) In everyday private life, AI is particularly well suited as a personal assistant for writing and editing texts (emails, job applications, social media), carrying out quick research and obtaining translations. Classic use cases also include assistance with learning and exam preparation, as well as providing simple tips and advice. This could be recipe suggestions, but also travel planning before a holiday. Here is an example:
The output is also available in text, video and image formats, allowing users to generate their own images, upload documents for analysis, or speak to ChatGPT via voice mode. For regular use, it is therefore worth creating a free account, which saves your chat history and enables personalised responses via the memory function.
At moinAI, we meet the necessary standards and offer the right solution also for your business.
Conclusion: Safe use of ChatGPT in businesse
In a corporate context, significantly stricter requirements apply, particularly with regard to data protection, IT security and compliance. ChatGPT is well suited for ideation or prototyping, but should not be integrated directly into business processes. Solutions based on OpenAI’s LLM, but specialised for company-specific data, are more appropriate here. They must be hosted in secure environments and comply with the GDPR. In this way, they are then suitable for productive use in customer service or internal knowledge management. Our article “ChatGPT in Customer Service: Does AI Deliver Real Added Value?” explains why not all chatbots are created equal and why EU-compliant alternatives are often the better choice for businesses.
Even when it comes to our own AI chatbot solution, moinAI, we always emphasise that it is not a substitute for human staff, but rather complements them perfectly by automating repetitive and tedious tasks in particular.
ChatGPT can be viewed in a similar light: it’s a brilliant tool for finding inspiration, having simple tasks taken off your hands and really saving time. Or simply for fun things, like song lyrics and recipes!
Speaking of fun stuff: when it comes to a popular topic, you can’t go wrong with some good memes. With that in mind, we’ll round off this post with this image to get you thinking!
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