What Is ChatGPT? Everything You Need to Know Explained

Summary: ChatGPT is a powerful AI chatbot by OpenAI that can write, explain, and converse like a human. It’s widely used for learning, writing, customer service, and content creation. It reflects how AI and data science shape modern technology and everyday tasks.

Introduction

Unless you’ve been living under a digital rock, you’ve probably heard the name ChatGPT buzzing around. But what is ChatGPT, and why is everyone so obsessed with it?

In the simplest terms, OpenAI developed ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that can talk, write, think, and even joke like a human (well, almost). It’s like having a super smart robot buddy who knows nearly everything instantly.

As of May 2025, ChatGPT has nearly 800 million weekly users and over 122 million daily users—more people than the population of many countries! And the traffic just keeps growing—4.5 billion visits in March alone. The AI tool answers more than 1 billion daily queries, showing how many people tap into its digital brainpower.

But that’s not all. ChatGPT owns 62.5% of the AI tools market, boasts 10 million paying subscribers on ChatGPT Plus, and helps generate $300 million in monthly revenue for OpenAI, which is now valued at a jaw-dropping $157 billion.

Let’s unravel the mystery of ChatGPT—how it works, what it can do, how to use it, and where it still stumbles.

Key Takeaways

• ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI that uses NLP to communicate like a human.
• It answers over 1 billion queries daily and has over 122 million daily users.
• The name GPT stands for Generative Pretrained Transformer, its core AI architecture.
• It’s widely used in education, customer service, and content creation.
• Learning how ChatGPT works provides a great foundation for a career in data science.

The Brains Behind the Bot: Who Created ChatGPT?

OpenAI, a San Francisco-based company obsessed with making AI smarter, safer, and more useful for everyday people, created ChatGPT.

Founded by tech heavyweights including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, OpenAI has also rolled out other cool AI tools like DALL·E 2 (which makes images from text) and Whisper (which turns speech into text).

Microsoft is a big backer too, throwing in billions and helping integrate ChatGPT into tools like Word, Excel, and Bing.

What Does “ChatGPT” Even Mean?

“GPT” stands for Generative Pretrained Transformer. Fancy, right? Think of it like this:

• Generative: It creates stuff.
• Pretrained: It has already learned from many books, articles, websites, and conversations.
• Transformer: The architecture (or brain design) helps it understand and write like a human.

In plain English: It’s a super-powered chatbot trained on huge amounts of information, designed to understand and respond in natural language.

So… What Can ChatGPT Actually Do?

Short answer: A LOT.

Long answer: It can write poems, draft emails, answer questions, summarize articles, translate languages, explain quantum physics, write dad jokes, and even create romantic movie scripts. Basically, if it involves words, ChatGPT can handle it.

Here’s what people use it for every day:

• Brainstorming ideas: Content creators love it for sparking creativity.
• Writing emails & messages: Save time on boring replies.
• Customer support: Companies use it to answer customer queries.
• Learning helper: It explains tough topics in simple ways.
• Social media content: Need a catchy caption or a clever tweet? Done.
• Language translation: Converts text into dozens of languages.

It can even simulate conversations, making it feel like you’re chatting with a real person. All you have to do is type a question or prompt, and within seconds—boom!—ChatGPT serves you an answer.

How Do You Use ChatGPT?

Using ChatGPT is as easy as sending a text message. Here’s how it works:

• Go to chat.openai.com or use it in apps like Microsoft Word or Bing.
• Type in your prompt or question: “Write me a birthday poem for my dog.”
• Wait a few seconds: ChatGPT thinks fast!
• Read the response: You can copy, edit, or keep the conversation going.

You can use it for free, or upgrade to ChatGPT Plus for faster responses, better tools (like GPT-4), and priority access during busy times.

Why Is ChatGPT So Popular?

Aside from being incredibly smart and helpful, ChatGPT became a viral hit because:

• It saves time.
• It’s super easy to use.
• It helps with almost any writing task.
• It’s free (with optional paid features).
• And let’s face it—it’s kinda fun!

People have used it to write books, build businesses, learn new skills, and even have deep conversations about life. With 800 million people chatting with it every week, it’s clear ChatGPT is more than just a tech trend—it’s a digital revolution.

But Wait, It’s Not Perfect: The Limitations of ChatGPT

Before you crown it your all-knowing AI buddy, here are a few things to keep in mind:

It Doesn’t Know Everything

ChatGPT’s knowledge is based on the data it was trained on. Currently, it only knows things up until November 2023, unless you’re using the web-connected version (like in ChatGPT Plus with browsing). So don’t expect it to give you next week’s lottery numbers or the latest celebrity gossip.

It Can Make Mistakes

ChatGPT sometimes “hallucinates” facts. Yup, it might confidently tell you something totally wrong. That’s why it’s good to double-check important info.

It Can Be Biased

Since it learns from human-written data, it might pick up human biases. OpenAI works to minimize this, but users should always be aware and think critically.

It Can’t Do Everything

Unlike its cousin DALL·E 2 (which makes images), it focuses only on language. It cannot create audio or video (yet!), and it does not search the internet unless you enable browsing.

Wrapping Up!  

ChatGPT is changing how we write, work, learn, and interact with technology. It’s like having a personal assistant, tutor, editor, and creative partner all rolled into one. And it’s only getting smarter.

Whether you’re a student, business owner, content creator, or just curious, ChatGPT can make your life a little easier—and a lot more interesting.

As AI tools become more advanced, understanding how they work is crucial, especially for aspiring data scientists. If this excites you, it’s time to build your AI and data science skills with Pickl.AI. Our industry-relevant courses empower you to create the next generation of intelligent systems. Step into the world of data-driven innovation today!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ChatGPT used for?

It helps with writing, summarizing, coding, translation, idea generation, and learning. It’s widely used in education, content creation, customer service, and productivity tasks across industries.

Who created ChatGPT and why?

It was created by OpenAI to make artificial intelligence more useful, accessible, and safe for public use. It demonstrates the power of large language models in real-world applications.

How is ChatGPT related to data science?

It is built on data science principles like machine learning, NLP, and big data. Understanding how it works provides aspiring data scientists and AI developers valuable insight.