OpenAI Playground, the viral tool that lets an AI write nearly anything for you

18 Oct 2022

The internet is filled with many artificial intelligence tools, and the research lab OpenAI is behind many of them. Most of OpenAI’s projects are only available to a limited number of people, but their new tool, Playground, is open to everyone. And recently, it’s been making a significant impact on social media and also in our day-to-day life

Here’s how Playground works, and how to use it.

OpenAI’s Playground can respond to any prompt

The playground is a predictive language tool. In other words, it features AIs are trained to complete or respond to whatever you type in the most authentic, “human” way possible. Bots like this have been around for years (remember Cleverbot?) but the Playground gives you a trial run with OpenAI’s best tools.

It comes with a few different templates you can use to spark your inspiration. For example, you can pick Chat to have a conversation with the bot, or Q&A to set up a question-and-answer session with it. But users have had the most fun just asking it to write stories for them, or imagine ideas for new TV shows.

There are other modes that let you input text someone has already written, and have the AI insert new text inside of it, or edit it. You can also change its “temperature” (how logical the response it gives is), its “frequency” (how much it repeats itself), and more.

The playground is mostly free but has a time limit

When you make your OpenAI account, you’re given a credit of $18 to start with. Considering that the AI only costs about six cents per 4000 characters generated, that $18 should last you an incredibly long time.

After three months, the free credits will expire. Once you hit that time limit (or if you use them all up before then), you’ll have to buy more by contacting OpenAI’s sales team.

How to use the OpenAI Playground

Before you can use Playground, you’ll need to make an OpenAI account. You can do this on a computer or phone.

1. Head to OpenAI’s API page and click Sign Up in the top-right. You can log in with your Google or Microsoft account, or sign up with a separate email address. If you use a separate email, you’ll need to enter a code they send to you.
2. Enter your name and (if you want) organization, then verify your phone number.
3. When you’re asked How will you primarily use OpenAI, choose the option that says I’m exploring personal use.

Ask the AI questions, give it requests — use your imagination. You’ll be surprised by how much pop culture it knows