WormGPT: What to know about ChatGPT's malicious cousin

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When ChatGPT was made available to the public in 2022, the AI chatbot took the world by storm. 

The software is developed by OpenAI, an AI and research company. ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool that is able to answer queries and provide information gleaned from datasets. It has become a valued tool for on-the-fly information gathering, analysis, and writing tasks for millions of users worldwide. 

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The first publicly available version of ChatGPT had a significant limitation: It could not access the internet. However, paying subscribers can now use browser plugins to allow the chatbot to access the web in real time and it will provide links to the sources used for its responses. 

While some experts believe the technology could reach an internet level of disruption, others note that ChatGPT demonstrates 'confident inaccuracy.' Students in droves have been caught plagiarizing coursework by way of the tool. Unless datasets are verified, ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) could become unwitting spreaders of misinformation and propaganda. 

Also: The best AI chatbots

Indeed, now the chatbot can access the web, it will be interesting to see the long-term impact on the validity of its results and responses. 

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