ChatGPT Plus subscribers have access to Code Interpreter.
- OpenAI just launched Code Interpreter, ChatGPT's newest plug-in that answers queries with Python.
- Insider reviewed Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube posts to see how users are testing the beta plug-in.
- Here's 9 ways ChatGPT Plus users have used Code Interpreter, from data analysis to game creation.
It seems ChatGPT just got a whole lot more useful. Last week, OpenAI launched a beta version of its plug-in called Code Interpreter to users of ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 a month.
Code Interpreter is the latest addition to ChatGPT's slate of plug-ins that can do things like look for flights, review links such as web pages, and search for peer-reviewed scientific research papers.
Thanks to the new plug-in, users may now be able to turn ChatGPT into their own personal data analyst. Unlike the standalone version of ChatGPT — which answers prompts by scraping public data — Code Interpreter uses Python, a popular computer coding language, to generate its responses. Users can now upload files to ChatGPT and download files generated by the bot.
ChatGPT Plus users can enable this feature by opening the chatbot, pressing the settings icon, clicking on the beta features tab, then toggling the Code Interpreter button.
Given its capabilities, some techies are now debating whether Code Interpreter can replace data analysts. Still, some have urged users to exercise caution when using the plug-in after noticing it could produce errors.
To see how people are using the plug-in, Insider scoured sites including Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube for examples.
1. Perform data analysis
Users can feed the chatbot large data sets and ask it to perform detailed analyses to identify trends.
In a demonstration, Ethan Mollick, a professor at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, copy and pasted an unstructured dataset of fireworks injuries in 2019 and 2020 into the chatbot.
Code Interpreter formatted the data into an organized database and concluded there'd been a "significant increase" in firework injuries over the period.
"I am regularly impressed by how much statistical common sense ChatGPT with Code Interpreter has," Mollick tweeted.
Users can also upload spreadsheets that contain hundreds of rows of data sets in CSV, XSLT, and JSON formats.
—Ethan Mollick (@emollick)
2. Create data visualizations
Code Interpreter can generate graphs based on the datasets users provide.
Alex Ker, the founder of an AI-projects incubator, tweeted that he fed Code Interpreter a Tesla stock dataset and asked the AI to graph the prices. In just five minutes, the chatbot was able to make multiple line graphs that showed its closing prices over five years.
Ker also got the plug-in to generate a line plot and histogram that shows how the daily stock prices have fluctuated.
"Code Interpreter is insane for exploratory data analysis and visualizations," Ker tweeted. "It's your personal data scientist and analyst."
Other users were just as impressed by the AI. Greg Howe, a founder of an IT startup, wrote in a LinkedIn post that he plans on using the plug-in more often for "one-off data analysis."
Jason Gulya, an AI council chair at Berkeley College, even got Code Interpreter to create a heat map for his LinkedIn impressions data.
—Alex Ker 🔭 (@thealexker)
3. Clean up data
Instead of manually going through hundreds of rows to clean up your data set, Code Interpreter may be able to do it for you in seconds.
In a recent video, Drake Surach, who is behind the YouTube channel AI Foundations, demonstrated how he used the ChatGPT plug-in for data hygiene.
He uploaded an Excel sheet of FBI crime rate data that contains empty rows and columns, and asked the chatbot to "clean this data."
In two minutes, Code Interpreter created a new spreadsheet with its column names corrected, unnecessary rows deleted, and footnotes removed.
"This would've taken such a long time — hours and hours on end — had we not had ChatGPT in order to help us do it," Surach said in his video.
4. Generate games
With creativity and careful attention to prompts, ChatGPT users can get Code Interpreter to build a game from scratch.
Ker, the founder of an AI tools incubator, tweeted instructions on how he used the plug-in to recreate Flappy Bird, a once popular smartphone game, in just seven minutes.
First, he asked the AI to "write p5.js code for Flappy Bird" with a description of its rules. After that, Ker found open source code to help Code Interpreter devise a version of the game.
"I created platformers and similar games back when I took intro to computer science," Ker tweeted. "Teachers may have to reimagine final projects now."
Using a similar process, Kris Kashtanova, an AI educator, tweeted that she got Code Interpreter to generate a simple asteroid game.
—Kris Kashtanova (@icreatelife)
5. Produce videos and GIFs from images — and vice versa
ChatGPT Plus users can use Code Interpreter to produce animated clips.
Salma Aboukar, a Midjourney prompt educator, tweeted that she got the plug-in to produce a video for a mock Tequila perfume in less than five minutes.
First, she prompted Midjourney, an AI-image generator, to produce an image of a "bottle of perfume sitting next to a cactus" with keywords for the specific styles she wanted. Then, she uploaded the Midjourney image to Code Interpreter and asked it to create a video using the image.
After some additional prompting, the plug-in generated a four-second clip.
Code Interpreter can even produce GIFs.
Mollick, the Wharton professor, wrote in a Twitter thread that he uploaded a spreadsheet containing data of "every lighthouse location in the US." In just seconds, the AI produced what appears to be a map of the US with lights twinkling to denote each one.
Using similar prompts, Code Interpreter can also get the AI to convert a GIF into a video.
—Salma Aboukar- Midjourney Queen (@Salmaaboukarr)
6. Convert files
ChatGPT's new feature can transform images into GIFs and GIFs into videos. But Code Interpreter can also handle much more mundane file conversions efficiently.
Howfinity, a YouTube channel dedicated to producing "how-to" videos on tech applications, showed in a recent video that users can get Code Interpreter to convert files, such as turning a PNG file into a JPEG, or a MP4 file into a GIF.
7. Write and debug code efficiently
Unlike its name suggests, Code Interpreter may be "most useful for those who do not code at all, " Mollick said in a blog post.
Standard ChatGPT, like most other chatbots powered by large language models, or LLMs, produces code when prompted. But in the same blog post, Mollick said users would often have to test and revise the code.
Now, Code Interpreter can fix its own coding mistakes and provide better output, he added.
AI Business shared screenshots of code generated by Code Interpreter that programs a game based on the Rick Astley hit "Never Gonna Give You Up."
8. Analyze playlists
With Code Interpreter, there may be no need to wait all year for your Spotify Wrapped playlist.
One Twitter user tweeted that they prompted Code Interpreter to analyze a 300-hour Spotify playlist of their favorite songs and draw conclusions.
—𒐪 (@SHL0MS)
9. Create QR codes
OpenAI silently promoted this use of Code Interpreter in its initial tweet announcing that the tool would be available to all ChatGPT Plus subscribers.
In the tweet, OpenAI included a photo of a prompt asking the plug-in to generate and display a QR code linking to the company's website. Code Interpreter did just that and included instructions for use.
—OpenAI (@OpenAI)
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