November 9, 2023

GPT-4: What It Is & How It's Implemented for Faster Growth

What is GPT-4? 

GPT-4 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is the fourth version in a family of natural language processing models developed by OpenAI. It relies on powerful transformer-based neural networks to understand and generate human-like language. 

It works by using special parts called "transformers" that help the software understand what words mean and how they fit together in sentences. It's like a puzzle, where the transformers help the computer figure out how to put all the words in the right order to make sense.

It does so because the model has been trained on a massive dataset, which includes text from different sources like books, articles, and websites. This training allows the model to engage in human-like conversations and generate seemingly meaningful responses. 

But it’s important to remember that while GPT-4 creates text that reads like a human, it’s far from conscious intelligence. 

Sam Altman, CEO and founder of OpenAI, stated in a recent interview,

“...really you’re talking to this Transformer, somewhere in a cloud, and it’s trying to predict the next word in a token and give it back to you.”

This is an obvious oversimplification of what’s going on under the hood with GPT-4. But it does serve to make one point clear: GPT-4 is incredibly good at mimicking human communication patterns but is still just software waiting for input

At this point in the technology’s evolution, most individuals haven’t had the chance to experiment with GPT-4 except through platforms like ChatGPT. 

With that in mind, let's make sure we're clear on what sets the two platforms apart.

Are ChatGPT and GPT-4 the same? 

No, ChatGPT and GPT-4 are not the same thing. 

ChatGPT is based on the GPT-4 model. It’s specifically designed for conversational AI applications, like generating human-like text responses based on user input.

GPT-4 refers to the current version of the GPT series of large-scale language models. This is the engine that drives ChatGPT. 

And while ChatGPT provides an output that reads more naturally, GPT-4 is more powerful and can handle more text in terms of input/output.

Is GPT-4 available to the public? 

The answer to this is a bit tricky: yes and no

The public can access GPT-4 through software like ChatGPT, and soon you'll be able to access GPT-4 directly in Copy.ai. These platforms use GPT-4 to generate content and interact with users.

However, GPT-4 is only available with a ChatGPT Plus paid plan or as an API for developers to build applications and services. 

Independent users don’t have access to GPT-4 outside of these AI chatbot platforms. 

How does GPT-4 work?

GPT-4 works through the same basic processes as its predecessor (GPT-3.5) but at a much larger scale.

In a nutshell, here's how it works:

  1. Transformer architecture: GPT-4 is built using a design called "Transformers." These Transformers are like super-smart machines that can understand which words in a sentence are important and how they're related to each other.
  2. Large-scale pre-training: GPT-4 learns from a massive amount of text, like books, websites, and articles. This way, it gets better at understanding language patterns, grammar, and facts.
  3. Fine-tuning: After learning from lots of text, GPT-4 is then trained on specific tasks, like answering questions or understanding emotions in text. This helps it become even better at handling those tasks.
  4. Tokenization: GPT-4 breaks down text into smaller parts called "tokens," which can be words or parts of words. This helps it handle different languages and understand what words mean.
  5. Context window: GPT-4 has a limit to how many tokens it can look at once. This limit helps it understand the context and relationships between words. But it also means it can't always understand very long sentences or paragraphs.
  6. Probability distribution and sampling: When GPT-4 generates text, it guesses the next word based on how likely it thinks each word is. Then, it picks a word from these guesses. This allows it to create diverse and interesting sentences.
  7. Fine-grained control: GPT-4 can be guided to give specific kinds of answers or text by using tricks like special prompts or adjusting its settings. This helps us get the results we want from the model.

However, that's not to imply there weren't technical improvements from one version to the other.

In fact, Sam Altman recently shared what makes the evolution of GPT-3.5 to GPT-4 so impressive:

"...[the improvement is] a lot of technical leaps in the base model. One of the things we are good at at OpenAI is finding a lot of small wins and multiplying them together. And each of them maybe is like a pretty big secret in some sense, but it really is the multiplicative impact of all of them. And the detail and care we put into it that gets us these big leaps and then you know, it looks like to the outside like oh they just probably like did one thing to get from three to three point five to four. It's like hundreds of complicated things. So the tiny little thing with the training, with the, like everything, with the data, how we like, collect the data, how we clean the data, how we do the training, how we do the optimizer, how we do the architect, I guess so many things."

In the end, GPT-4 isn't just superior because it has more parameters. In the same interview as the quote above, Sam addressed this by saying, "I think people got caught up in the parameter count race in the same way they got caught up in the gigahertz race of processors and like the 90s and 2000s or whatever."

The real focus, according to Sam, should be on those collective "small wins" that allow GPT to evolve.

Let's turn our attention to what advancements user's can expect to see from GPT-4.

What are the improvements from GPT-3.5 to GPT-4?

Better understanding of language 

GPT-4 has a better understanding of nuanced language, allowing it to generate more natural responses. It can do this because it’s been trained on larger and more diverse datasets, which help the model capture a wider range of linguistic patterns and expressions.

This training data includes blog posts, news articles, movie scripts, and other text-based assets found online—of which there’s no shortage. 

Enhanced creativity

GPT-4 is equipped with a more sophisticated algorithm to generate more creative and diverse responses. As a result, it’s better at tasks like creative writing and brainstorming.

Plus, OpenAI assures users that even though the software is more creative, it’s less likely to invent or “hallucinate” facts

That said, GPT-4 still confidently delivers false information as truth (known as “hallucinations”), so fact-checking the platform’s output is always necessary. 

Higher translation accuracy 

GPT-4 has been trained on a wider range of languages, allowing it to generate high-quality responses beyond just English. This makes it a valuable tool for businesses and organizations operating in multilingual environments.

Longer memory

GPT-4 can better track the context of longer conversations and is less prone to repeating itself or getting lost. This is a significant improvement over previous models, which could sometimes struggle with longer interactions.

Visual inputs

GPT-4 can accept prompts with images and allows the user to generate text outputs (natural language, code, etc.) from said images. 

This is a significant advancement from its predecessor GPT-3, which could only process text-based inputs. 

In terms of applications, this is huge. 

Just consider the person who scribbled a website on a napkin, showed the image to GPT-4, and had the functional website coded in seconds. You can read the full story here.

Steerability

Steerability refers to the ability to control the output of GPT-4 by providing additional context or instructions. 

With GPT-4, users can provide specific and nuanced prompts, which allows the model to generate better responses. This feature is especially useful in scenarios where the user wants the conversation to follow a particular direction or to obtain a specific answer. 

Larger word processing 

GPT-4 is able to handle queries that can process 32,000 tokens, which comes out to roughly 25,000 words. GPT-3.5, on the other hand, could only process 4,000 tokens, or 3,000 words at a time. 

This allows GPT-4 to handle more complex tasks and work with/analyze more text-based data. 

Now that we’ve looked at some of the improvements over GPT-4 from GPT-3, let’s look at a few ways businesses leverage the software for faster growth. 

What are the applications of GPT-4? 

GPT-4 can be used for many different tasks, making it one of the most revolutionary pieces of technology to hit humanity since fire—and no, we don’t think that’s hyperbole

But the most common use cases for GPT-4 include: 

  • Content generation 
  • Chatbot/personal assistants
  • Language translation
  • Text summarization 
  • Code/programming assistance 

Let’s look at each use case in more detail. 

Content generation

You’ve likely heard the buzz around ChatGPT these past few months. That software, like others, uses GPT-4 to create content for professional or personal use. 

Here's a deeper look at some specific applications regarding content generation:

  • Blog post writing: GPT-4 can help authors, journalists, and content marketers by drafting articles and blog posts on a wide range of topics.
  • Social media content: GPT-4 can help users maintain a consistent posting schedule, generate content ideas, and even tailor messages to different platforms or target audiences.
  • Copywriting: Businesses and marketers can use GPT-4 to create persuasive copy for advertisements, email campaigns, landing pages, and product descriptions.
  • Creative writing: GPT-4 can be a valuable asset for creative writers, helping them to generate ideas, write drafts, or even complete entire stories/movie scripts.
  • Educational content: GPT-4 can be used to create educational materials, such as study guides, lesson plans, or explainer articles.

While this tool can create high-quality content in many cases, it's important to remember that it may not always be perfect.

Human intervention is still necessary to edit, fact-check, and refine any text generated with GPT-4.

Chatbots/personal assistants 

GPT-4's ability to understand and generate text makes it an excellent choice for developing chatbots and virtual assistants.

It can be integrated into customer support platforms to help answer frequently asked questions, troubleshoot issues, or provide guidance on using a product or service. 

By automating these tasks, businesses can: 

  • Reduce response times
  • Improve customer satisfaction
  • Free up human agents to focus on more complex queries 

GPT-4 can also be used to create virtual personal assistants that help users manage their schedules, set reminders, provide recommendations, or even engage in casual conversations.

This is one of the most exciting features of where this technology is headed, and it’s what inspired Chat by Copy.ai which will be plugged into GPT-4 very soon.

Language translation

GPT-4's proficiency in multiple languages lets it perform translation tasks across different language pairs.

It can be used to translate text or speech in real-time and help break down language barriers to enable more effective collaboration or conversation. That means businesses and content creators can now leverage GPT-4 to translate their materials, such as websites, applications, or marketing campaigns, into different languages. 

GPT-4 can also be integrated into language learning applications to provide translations, explanations, or examples for students. 

This can offer valuable insights and help learners improve their language skills. 

Duolingo is a great example of a company using GPT-4 to help people get better at learning a second language. 

It's important to note that while GPT-4 can perform translation tasks reasonably well, it may not always match the accuracy or nuance of dedicated translation models or professional human translators. 

Therefore, depending on the specific use case and the level of accuracy you need, it may still be necessary to rely on specialized translation services or tools.

Text summarization

GPT-4's ability to comprehend and generate coherent text makes it an effective tool for summarizing long documents or articles into shorter, more digestible formats. 

Here's a deeper look at some specific applications within text summarization:

  • News summarization: GPT-4 can condense lengthy news articles into brief summaries, allowing users to grasp key points without having to read the entire piece.
  • Academic summarization: GPT-4 can help students and researchers by summarizing complex academic papers, reports, or books, extracting the main ideas, findings, or arguments.
  • Business reports: In a professional setting, GPT-4 can be used to generate executive summaries of lengthy reports or meeting transcripts, highlighting the most important insights, decisions, or action items.
  • Content curation: GPT-4 can assist content curators in generating concise summaries or abstracts for articles, videos, or podcasts, making it easier for users to browse and discover relevant content based on their interests.

Text summarization applications will likely be used for educational purposes, whether that learning is for school, business, or pleasure. 

Code generation/programming assistance 

GPT-4's understanding of programming languages and context awareness allows it to provide valuable insights and reduce development time for programmers. 

This can be applied in different ways, such as integrating GPT-4 into code editors or integrated development environments (IDEs) to suggest code snippets or complete lines of code as a programmer is typing. 

This can speed up the coding process and reduce the likelihood of syntax errors or typos. 

GPT-4 can also analyze existing code and suggest potential improvements, such as refactoring, optimizing performance, or identifying more efficient algorithms. 

This serves as a powerful coding assistant that can help developers write cleaner, more maintainable, and more efficient code.

Furthermore, GPT-4 can help developers identify and fix bugs in their code by analyzing error messages, suggesting possible causes, and providing potential solutions. This can save time and effort, allowing developers to focus on more complex tasks. 

So far, we’ve looked at use cases of GPT-4 that apply to professional, academic, and personal contexts. 

Moving forward, let’s shift gears and focus on how GPT-4 is specifically impacting business. 

How are companies scaling growth with GPT-4? 

There are many ways that companies can scale results with GPT-4, but the most common ways are when this technology is applied to sales and marketing. 

Let’s take a look at how GPT-4 improves both departments. 

GPT-4 for sales 

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized various industries, and sales is no exception. 

Companies looking to integrate GPT-4 into their sales workflows can soon get started by using tools like Chat by Copy.ai (using GPT-4 soon!) and ChatGPT. 

These platforms allow sales teams to access GPT-4's language capabilities and use them for a variety of purposes, such as generating personalized email templates, crafting engaging social media posts, and responding to customer inquiries with natural language understanding.

Here are some of the specific ways companies are using GPT-4 for sales.

Writing personalized outreach copy

Cold outreach can be one of the biggest challenges in sales. It's a tedious and time-consuming process that requires BDRs/SDRs to research new leads and write personalized messages that start conversations.

Now, you can use GPT-4 to have personalized outbound copy generated at the click of a button.

Hook this up to a spreadsheet, and you can scale this by creating hundreds of personalized emails in minutes.

Automating tedious sales workflows with GPT-4 and CRM integration

To streamline their sales operations, companies are leveraging GPT-4's automation capabilities by syncing it with their customer relationship management (CRM) software. 

For example, let’s say a fictional company, TechBoost Inc., has integrated GPT-4 into its CRM platform. This allows their sales team can now automate follow-up emails based on customer interactions, ensuring more timely responses and personalized sales copy. 

As a result, TechBoost Inc. sees significant improvements in their sales representatives' productivity and customer satisfaction.

In real-world examples, we’re already seeing Copy.ai customers build these automated workflows to supercharge their cold outbound efforts and build stronger customer relationships. 

Explore our AI Marketing OS.

Analyzing and optimizing sales conversations with GPT-4 and Gong

In addition to automating workflows, sales teams are using GPT-4 to analyze sales calls to increase conversions. 

By integrating GPT-4 with conversation analytics tools like Gong, companies can transcribe, analyze, and identify patterns in sales calls. This information helps sales teams optimize their approach, tailor their communication style to individual prospects, and, ultimately, close more deals.

Conducting thorough audience research 

GPT-4 is also being used by sales teams to learn more about leads and conduct in-depth audience research. 

By simply inputting a LinkedIn profile URL, GPT-4 can generate a summarized version of a person's work history, allowing sales representatives to quickly familiarize themselves with a prospect's background. 

This information can be used to create highly personalized outreach efforts that speak directly to the needs and pain points of potential clients.

GPT-4 for marketing

Companies are leveraging the power of GPT-4 to enhance different aspects of their marketing strategies, from content creation to social media management. 

Here are some of the concrete ways businesses are attracting more visitors with GPT-4. 

Automating long-form blogging with GPT-4

One key application of GPT-4 in marketing is automating the long-form blogging process. 

GPT-4 helps marketing teams with tasks such as generating content ideas, creating keyword clusters, building outlines, writing first drafts, and strategically updating existing posts. This automation allows marketers to produce high-quality, SEO-friendly content at a faster rate, ultimately increasing website traffic and boosting search engine rankings.

Writing better copy

GPT-4 is also being used to write compelling copy for social media posts, PPC campaigns, landing pages, and email sequences. 

Its ability to understand context and generate natural language makes it an invaluable tool for crafting persuasive marketing messages that resonate with target audiences and drive engagement.

Another important point to note is that you can use GPT-4 to generate different versions of copy for the same campaign. That way, you can A/B test your way to better results. 

Having instant access to an infinite number of copy iterations can save you tons of money that would have otherwise gone to an expensive copywriter.

Crafting high-converting personalized email sequences

Email marketing is a crucial component of many marketing strategies, and GPT-4 is helping teams create highly effective, personalized sequences. 

By leveraging GPT-4's natural language processing capabilities, marketing teams can craft tailored emails that resonate with individual recipients and increase a campaign’s overall effectiveness.

Improving social media presence with GPT-4

Companies are also using GPT-4 to enhance their social media presence. 

With GPT-4, you can create any marketing campaign for social media you need, such as:

  • Instagram captions 
  • LinkedIn posts (long and short) 
  • Quora responses 
  • TikTok scripts 
  • Twitter threads
  • YouTube video descriptions 

Or any other text-based copy you need. With GPT-4, you can execute on your social media strategy in a fraction of the time.

Using GPT-4 to get more backlinks

Quality backlinks are essential for improving search engine rankings, and GPT-4 is playing a pivotal role in helping companies acquire more of them. 

By generating high-quality, relevant content, GPT-4 helps companies attract the attention of industry influencers and reputable websites, who may then link back to the original content. 

Plus, GPT-4 can be used to create personalized outreach emails to request backlinks, increasing the likelihood of a positive response from other website owners.

While AI technology is rapidly being used by businesses to achieve faster growth, many companies are left wondering, “Where do I even begin implementing GPT-4, especially as it’s not available to the public?” 

Latest updates on GPT-4

The field of AI is moving at such an extraordinary pace that it can be challenging to keep up. That said, staying up-to-date with AI technologies has never been more important than it is right now.

Companies that leverage AI to build more efficient processes and create better customer journeys will thrive. And the businesses that drag their heels will find it difficult to catch up to the competition once that gap has begun.

That's why there are two recent updates concerning GPT-4 that you should be aware of.

GPT-4 can access the internet via ChatGPT

Previously, GPT-4 was only accessible through platforms like ChatGPT. The problem is that this software was limited to training data up to 2021 and didn't have access to the web when it searched for answers.

But now GPT-4 can access third-party information from the web to provide better responses.

Well, to put it more accurately, ChatGPT (which can be run on GPT-4 with a premium membership) currently has add-ons that can visit and scrape websites. With most of the these tools, you're left with the feeling that the plane is getting built as it's flying.

That said, this development shows clear potential in how GPT-4 can unlock even more growth potential.

Tech leaders are asking for a "pause"

Another big development in the world of AI was tech leaders like Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and many others signing an open petition to pause the development of AI for six months. Their fear is that the technology is advancing more rapidly than society can manage, and more guardrails should be put into place.

While it's unclear whether or not OpenAI will stop, we do know that GPT-4 isn't the latest version.

In fact, according to Sam Altman in a recent interview, the team at OpenAI finished GPT-4 seven months ago. They're releasing it to better understand how people use the technology so they can make newer models safer for consumers.

There is no answer yet as to whether or not development will be paused (our suspicion is "no"), but that is where the conversation currently stands.

What's next for GPT-4?

At the end of the day, it's hard to say where this technology is headed (or how fast it will get there). But one thing is clear: AI is changing everything, and early adopters will be the ones who come out ahead.

GPT-4 may or may not be around for a while before GPT-5 inevitably takes its place. And like all technology, we'll probably see new versions roll-out on a semi-regular basis.

At the moment, though, the future of GPT-4 and AI technology is as exciting as it is unclear. We look forward to keeping you updated as new advances are made.

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