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ChatGPT and AI Literacy

Large Language Models (LLMs)

ChatGPT logo ChatGPT

Open AI
Free

As of April 2024, you can use it without creating an account.

Additional features (with usage rate limits)

  • Search the web
    (be sure to click on the globe icon in the search box to activate it)

  • Upload images in your prompts

  • Provide support files in your prompts

  • Discover and use GPTs

  • Canvas: a new way of working with ChatGPT to write and code

  • "Reasoning" 
    click the "reason" button in the search box to get it to "think before responding"

ChatGPT Plus logo ChatGPT Plus

Open AI
(paid version)
Includes:

  • a new ChatGPT Search (as of Oct. 31, 2024)
  • data analysis
  • coding
  • vision (upload images and ask questions about them)
  • Image generation
  • Canvas: a new way of working with ChatGPT to write and code
  • GPT 4o with scheduled tasks (it can send you reminders)
  • GPT 4.5 research preview (for writing & exploring ideas)
  • o1 - advanced reasoning
  • o3-mini - fast at advanced reasoning
  • o3-mini high - good for coding and logic
  • Build chatbots without using code. These are called "GPTs."

    Enterprise edition for large businesses. Teams account for small business.
    "Reasoning" models can spend time trying different solutions before responding.


Starting December 5, 2024, there is a $200/month version called ChatGPT Pro.
"ChatGPT Pro provides a way for researchers, engineers, and
other individuals who use research-grade intelligence daily to accelerate
their productivity and be at the cutting edge of advancements in AI."

Microsoft Copilot logo Microsoft Copilot Microsoft
Free, built on GPT-4 
Includes web search results and image generation.

You can also generate images with
 Bing Image Creator or Microsoft Designer 
(log in with a personal Microsoft account)

 
Google Bard logo Gemini
 

Google
Free
Includes web search results from Google.

Gemini Advanced is also available with more features ($20/mo).

  • uses a more powerful model
  • you can try their experimental model, Gemini-Exp-1206
    (good at coding and math)
  • Generate multi-page reports with Deep Research
  • Very large context window: Upload and analyze
    personal files, whole books, or lengthy reports
    - up to 1,500 pages of text.
Claude logo Claude

Anthropic
Free. 
Claude 3.7 Sonnet includes:

  • data analysis
  • coding
  • vision (upload images and ask questions about them)
  • "Artifacts" - these allow Claude to share standalone content
    in a dedicated window separate from the main conversation.
  • Tailor Claude’s responses to your personal style,
    generate a custom style based on your own writing.

Pro version ($20/mo) 

Focused on reliability and safety.

Web search has been added to paid version (as for March 20, 2025)
No web search results in free version (yet). Trained on data through April 2024.

Perplexity AI Perplexity
Free. Includes web search results, with citations.
Offers "Focus" choices such as
YouTube, Reddit, Semantic Scholar, and Wolfram|Alpha.

You can use it without creating an account.

The feature called Spaces makes it easy to create your own
knowledge base where you can search through your
class notes, syllabus, and course materials.

Generate practice exams or collaboration guides for group projects.
See A student's guide to using Perplexity Spaces.


Pro account ($20/mo) allows a choice between several models:
GPT-4o, Claude, and others.

Other useful tools based on LLMs

These tools are based on language models, like those from OpenAI.

Explainpaper
Upload a PDF, highlight confusing text, and get a simpler explanation. Useful for reading research papers outside your field. You can also get explanations in languages other than English. 

 

Elicit
Find answers from 175 million research papers. Elicit uses semantic similarity, which finds papers related to your question even if they don't use the same keywords. See How to use Elicit responsibly.

 

Keenious
Keenious is a resource recommender tool designed to aid in the identification and discovery of scholarly research.

It analyzes writing from text documents and PDFs to recommend the most relevant articles and topics to explore using artificial intelligence combined with conventional search algorithms. It seamlessly integrates with library resources to minimize paywalls and is freely available to all CEU affiliates. Our access to Keenious is IP-based and available in the Vienna campus or if you are off-campus, make sure you are connected to the CEU VPN.
 

NotebookLM
Google's tool for saving and working with your own notes. You can include links to websites, Google Docs, Google Slides, YouTube, or paste in any text and then get useful summaries, quiz questions, and even a simulated podcast based on your content. Learn more in this video. Also, Google never uses your data to train NotebookLM: "your uploads, queries, or the model's responses remain private to you."

 

Scite AI assistant
A conversational tool made by Scite that lets you ask questions in simple language and get answers backed by real, up to date references. Think of like ChatGPT with real, up to date references, tailor-made for anyone discovering, understanding, or writing research.

   
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