New Free Model for ChatGPT

Direct AI Updates for School Leaders: 5/20/2024

Author

William Grube
May 20, 2024

Hello all - here is what you will find in this newsletter:

AI Use Case For You

Leveraging ChatGPT for Expert-Free Feedback

This use case can help you generate comments for teacher evaluations. It is for when you are evaluating a teacher who teaches a subject you find challenging.

Here is a prompt you can use:

“Act as if you are a high school principal coaching a teacher on their instruction. Though you lack the content expertise of AP Physics, you recognize that the teacher struggles with alignment between what they teach and what the students learn. The teacher has a wide variety of engaging lessons and lab activities, but you are unable to see a structure that is based on the standard the teacher needs to teach and evidence-based outcomes demonstrating student proficiency of those standards. Provide me with some notes to include in the teacher's evaluations and things I can say to the teacher in our coaching conversations.”

You can also find that same prompt here.

Here is how I used this prompt inside of ChatGPT: My ChatGPT feed. (Check out the follow-up prompt I used after I got the initial response.)

This specific example uses AP Physics. Of course, it can be applied to any subject.

Now onto the big news.

New FREE ChatGPT Model (Very Important)

OpenAI (the company that runs ChatGPT) just announced a new model, GPT-4o.

This model will become the model used by all free users of ChatGPT automatically. It is slowly being released to everyone in the coming weeks. Near the end of this newsletter, I will show you how to know if your account has been given access to GPT-4o.

Let’s talk about why this matters.

You, your staff, and your students will all have access to this model before the start of the next school year. Let’s compare the new model to the old models.

GPT-3.5 is the model that all free users used to use. The model that paid users use is called GPT-4 (not to be confused with the new model GPT-4o). Here is the difference between the two old models based on a few exam scores:

Exam

GPT-3.5

GPT-4

Uniform Bar Exam

10th percentile

90th percentile

Biology Olympiad

31st percentile

99th percentile

SAT Math

70th percentile

89th percentile

So, where does the new model fit in?

GPT-4o is a faster and slightly better version of GPT-4. (Keep reading there is much more to it than that.)

This means that everyone will have access to a far more accurate model. This also means that free users will now be able to do everything that paid users have been able to do. For you, a use case that will pique your interest is data analysis.

In this newsletter about GPT-4, I walk through that use case and more.

This barely scratches. GPT-4o is not limited to text interactions. GPT-4o can interact with the world through audio, video, and text. You can see this in action here: Using GPT-4o as a math tutor.

OpenAI did a great job keeping its keynote announcement of this model short. If you have 20 minutes this week, I recommend watching it. They even added an educational use case: the keynote announcement. If you prefer to read, you can find the announcement and a bunch of different use-case examples here.

Here are a few videos that OpenAI put out showcasing the new model:

This newsletter is to make you aware of the announcement. You, your staff, and students will have access to GPT-4o soon, if not already. I do not want to bombard you with information. Let’s vote on what you would like covered in the next edition:

What would you like covered in the next edition?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

If you want to add options for future polls, request a topic by clicking "other" or replying to this email. Next, I will show you how to determine if you have access to GPT-4o.

How to Know When You Have Access to the New Model

One of the functionalities of GPT-4 and GPT-4o is the ability to send attachments (PDFs, Excel files, Word documents) with your prompts.

This can be a telltale sign that you have been upgraded to GPT-4o. If you have a paperclip icon where you type prompts, you have access to the new model.

If you do not see this paperclip icon, you will be updated to the new model in the coming weeks.

Now, sense the best model is free, what extras do paid users get?

What Advantages Do Paid ChatGPT Users Get Now?

Here are the main advantages of paying for a ChatGPT account ($20 per month):

  1. If you use ChatGPT a lot, you reach hourly limits. Paid users get 5x higher message limits.

  2. If you pay for ChatGPT, you recieved access to the new model shortly after it was announced. As a paid user, you will continue to get early access to new releases.

  3. I believe a new model (potentially GPT-5) will be released soon. This model would be only available for paid users. (This is speculation.)

As AI continues to improve, I am looking forward to keeping you all updated.

Feel free to reach out at any time by responding to this newsletter. Have a great week!

Kind regards,

William Grube