Disclaimer: I don’t vibe with ChatGPT. For me personally, my integrity is the words I speak, the words I write, all that I have, and my most valuable asset. I’m therefore hesitant to ask ChatGPT or its alternatives to write my news articles, work emails, or my wedding vows. I don’t want a programme to get the facts wrong, word something poorly, and compromise my integrity.
If anyone is going to scooter crash my work into a police car, I want it to be me.
However, I do understand that this position isn’t everyone’s jam. Maybe your workplace wants you to write 100 emails a day and doing so by yourself just isn’t feasible. Maybe you want a chatbot to do your uni report so you can go kiss the love of your life on a beach. There’s nuance here, folks.
ChatGPT is neither the end of the planet nor a utopian future.
So, with this in mind, let’s rank some ChatGPT alternatives. Because sometimes ChatGPT is at capacity and you can’t access it. What’s more, talking with just one chatbot might get a tad stale. We’re here to stan chatbot polyamory.
Let’s get going, it’s time for three non-hyped reviews.
Jasper AI
In September of 2022, I gave Jasper AI a test drive. Like ChatGPT, you can give this chatbot a prompt and it will write you some paragraphs.
Being curious about Jasper handled non-American subjects, I asked it to discuss the state of Australian politics. Jasper’s been trained on just 10% of the internet, and I provided this AI chatbot with several useful facts about the Federal Government. I gave Jasper a fair chance of not flopping.
But for better or worse, Jasper didn’t rise to this challenge. It got some facts wrong. It made up Federal Government policies. It also incorrectly predicted the future. Jasper grabbed the L of the century and wore this L like a medal.
Granted, the makers of Jasper have stated that this chatbot isn’t always great with the facts. However, they also state that Jasper sometimes gets things right, confusing their position.
“Jasper is designed to write creatively, not factually,” said Jasper’s website. “This does not mean that he cannot write a factually accurate article. The underlying AI model that powers Jasper was trained by reading about 10% of the published internet to understand how people write.”
At this point, it’s worth noting that any 10% of the internet probably contains misinfo. And depending on the info, republishing it could be very dangerous.
As it stands, I cannot recommend Jasper. Not only does it produce misinfo, but its creators’ stance on this fact is also confusing.
YouChat
While 10,000 kilometres from perfect, YouChat is easily one of the best ChatGPT alternatives on the current market. And it is so for two simple reasons.
First off, unlike ChatGPT and Jasper, YouChat is connected to the internet. This means it can provide current bits of information.
Second of all, and more importantly, YouChat sources where it gets its info from.
That’s right, when you ask YouChat a question, it’ll provide you with an answer, plus a list of websites that informed its reply. These sources are easily accessible on the right-hand side of the webpage and can be manually assessed. This means that, unlike a number of other ChatGPT alternatives, you can determine if it’s lying in a jiffy.
For instance, I asked YouChat what Anthony Albanese, our Prime Minister, was doing in the first week of March. YouChat told me he was attending various meetings in Japan. This is incorrect. Albanese is in Australia, discussing how he wants to change our super system. He is as far from Japan as he could get.
However, YouChat’s sources were listed as being from September or October of 2022. During September, Albanese went to Tokyo and attended a funeral that reflected on the life of Japan’s former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. Meanwhile, in October, Albanese met with Japan’s current Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida. Granted, this second meeting happened in Perth.
In 2023, the problem with the internet isn’t that there’s a lack of stuff to click. The problem is the sea of unsourced and unreliable content. Gorging ourselves on false facts has contributed to election misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate speech all gaining traction online. If ChatGPT alternatives are going to be the future, please let that future be fact-checked.
Now, all of these compliments might make you want to instantaneously sprint over to YouChat. But, as previously stated, YouChat is far from perfect. As of March 2, this chatbot is still in beta. Additionally, it hypes itself up too much.
For instance, I asked YouChat how recent its info is. And this chatbot provided an overconfident answer.
YouChat stated: “YouChat is designed to provide up-to-date information. It is constantly learning and updating its knowledge base with new and relevant information, so it is able to provide accurate and timely answers to questions.”
Similarly, a YouChat blog claimed, “It stays up-to-date with the news and cites its sources so that you can feel confident in its answers. Plus, the more you interact with YouChat, the more it improves.”
Let’s state the facts again: Albanese is not chilling in Japan.
If you’re going to use YouChat, don’t ask this chatbot to comment on current events. What’s more, always click the links on the side.
Perplexity AI
Perplexity AI is good for the same reason that YouChat is good. Yup, Perplexity AI also works as a search engine and links to its sources.
That being said, Perplexity AI has some quality-of-life stuff that makes it better than YouChat. For example, YouChat makes you sign up for its services, which is both confusing and pointless. Meanwhile, Perplexity AI doesn’t want your email address or your name. You can just open this chatbot up and start going.
Additionally, Perplexity AI’s answers were more honest than the ones that YouChat provided. When I asked Perplexity AI what Albo was doing this week, it didn’t send me a whack of misinfo.
Perplexity AI said, “There is no information available on what Anthony Albanese is doing this week. The most recent news articles are from November 2022 and August 2022. He was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Australia in May 2022.”
So, does Perplexity AI get a stamp of approval? Well, its responses are still leagues worse than what a competent human could write. However, if you’re in a time crunch and need some help, Perplexity AI is better than the other ChatGPT alternatives.
Related: AI Search Engines Are Coming, and We Are Not Ready for It
Related: What are the Different Uses for ChatGPT, AI Text Generator?
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