ChatGPT and Google Gemini are AI chatbots designed to generate responses to prompts. When used appropriately, ChatGPT and Google Gemini can support certain business processes in content production, development, and more. Take a look at the features, pros, and cons of each tool to see which AI chatbot would be best for your business.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI that generates human-like responses based on text input. It has been trained with a large amount of text from the internet and enabled with the large GPT-4 language model.
What is Google Gemini?
Like ChatGPT, Google Gemini can answer questions and generate text from prompts. Google Gemini was originally launched as Google Bard, a chatbot based on the LaMDA family of large language models. In February 2024, Google introduced Gemini, which was trained on the PaLM large language model, and incorporated the Bard branding into Gemini.
ChatGPT vs. Google Gemini: Comparison Table
| Characteristics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Generates summaries and other texts. | ||
| Provides conversational responses. | ||
| Use context | ||
| Create images | ||
| Accepts image input | ||
| Prices | $20 per month for ChatGPT Plus |
$19.99 per month for Gemini Advanced |
Google Gemini vs ChatGPT: Key Differences
One important difference is that the free version of ChatGPT lacks up-to-date information, while Gemini can access the Internet.
The fundamentals of the two AI chatbots are also different: ChatGPT is based on OpenAI’s GPT 4o mini or GPT-4o, depending on free or paid access, and Gemini is based on Google’s Gemini Ultra, Pro, or Nano, depending on language and country. Gemini can interpret images, is interoperable, and supports extensions that pull data from Google products such as Google Flights, Hotels, Maps, Drive, Gmail, Docs, and YouTube. An upgrade to ChatGPT Plus enables access to many third-party add-ons for expanded functionality.
Gemini allows people to upload files for analysis, identification, or captioning, something that is not possible in ChatGPT. However, an upgrade to ChatGPT Plus allows for image analysis features, as well as the ability to create an image from a message.
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ChatGPT and Google Gemini Prices
ChatGPT
The basic version of ChatGPT is free. For $20 per month, ChatGPT Plus gives subscribers faster response times and access to new features in GPT-4, GPT-4o, or GPT-4o mini (the free version provides access to GPT-4o mini). The GPT-4 API was made generally available in July 2023. The ChatGPT Team plan adds management of team account roles and the ability to share conversations and GPTs between team members.
Google Gemini
Google Gemini is free and offers an unlimited number of questions. Gemini Advanced, which adds more storage, integration with other Google apps, and more, costs $19.99 per month.
Feature Comparison: ChatGPT vs. Google Gemini
Text generation
ChatGPT and Google Gemini are useful tools for producing texts, from summarizing information to generating a list, creating a poem or writing an essay. Ask either AI system to explain a topic, compare or contrast two or more things or compose an email and you'll likely get a useful response.
Conversational responses
ChatGPT and Google Gemini are trained on datasets that include hundreds of billions of parameters, resulting in highly human-like responses. Since Google Gemini has instant access to the internet, it can generate more up-to-date responses than ChatGPT.
For example, if you ask “What happened in Budapest yesterday?”, Google Gemini can provide several news sources, while ChatGPT makes inferences based on the data available from the most recent training update. However, ChatGPT Plus can scan the Internet and return equally up-to-date answers as Google Gemini.
Use context
ChatGPT collects information from previous conversations and previous interactions with the user, meaning it can use context when engaging in a chat. Gemini can also use context in conversations and can pick up the conversation where the user left off.
For example, if you ask it, “What do you think of the new employee description I mentioned the other day?” Gemini can respond using the clues above. However, it sometimes struggles. In this case, “the first mission to the Moon I asked about” was Chandrayaan-3. Neither of these systems offers as wide a window of context as another generative AI alternative, Claude.
Uploads: Images and documents
Google Gemini allows you to upload an image and ask the system to analyze it and give you details about the image or create a caption for it.
While the free version of ChatGPT does not support image uploads, an upgrade to ChatGPT Plus not only allows images to be uploaded, analyzed, and captioned, but also allows you to create an image with a message. For example, a text message can be used to create an image that illustrates a story, suggests a setting, or conveys a concept. Similarly, you can upload a document, such as a PDF, and then ask ChatGPT questions about the document or to get a summary.
Pros and cons of ChatGPT
Advantages of ChatGPT
- Fast response times: ChatGPT is superior to previous generations of AI chatbots due to the speed of its responses, helping businesses become more efficient.
- Ability to generate human-like responses: ChatGPT can produce more natural-sounding text than previous generations of AI chatbots, largely due to the vast amount of data it has been trained on.
- Easy to use: ChatGPT can perform a wide variety of tasks, from translating to condensing paragraphs to producing song lyrics, and it can do so for a wide audience. Its simple interface and straightforward responses make it an easy-to-use tool for those with no technical knowledge.
- Supports many programming languages: ChatGPT supports Python, JavaScript, Java and a dozen other programming languages.
- Supports more than 20 languages: ChatGPT “can understand and generate text” in more than 20 languages.
Disadvantages of ChatGPT
- Limited accuracy and reliability: ChatGPT responses may contain errors as it uses training data. They are also not up to date, although ChatGPT Plus allows access to information from the Internet.
- Hidden bias: ChatGPT may produce biased answers due to the dataset it is trained on. The source material itself may contain biases that can affect the answers offered by ChatGPT. For example, ChatGPT is not very good at answering non-English questions and may produce errors.
- Without understanding the real world: ChatGPT is limited to the dataset it was trained on, and while it can produce impressive responses, it is based on what is available online, not what has been learned through real human experience.
Pros and cons of Google Gemini
Advantages of Google Gemini
- High quality text generation: Google Gemini can produce human-like text that can be used for a variety of tasks, from answering queries to summarizing material or translating text.
- Large dataset: Google Gemini is pre-trained on a massive dataset of text and code, allowing it to generate more comprehensive and informative responses than smaller models.
- Creative Text Output: Google Gemini can help you create a variety of texts, from job descriptions to recruitment letters to report writing, making it a versatile tool for business.
- Write code in many programming languages: Google claims Gemini can generate code for simple and complex tasks in multiple programming languages from instructions written in natural language.
- Language help: Gemini supports over 40 languages.
Disadvantages of Google Gemini
- Computing resources: Large transformer models are computationally intensive.
- An experiment: As an experiment, Gemini may make mistakes or provide inaccurate information.
Precautions when using AI chatbots
ChatGPT and Google Gemini are still under development and may contain errors or biases. Therefore, users should be critical of the information provided by ChatGPT and Google Gemini to ensure its accuracy.
Additionally, there are privacy concerns associated with using ChatGPT or Google Gemini, which collect personal information in much the same way as search engines. Your IP address, text, and even links to your data such as phone, email, and social media can be collected.
Should your organization use ChatGPT or Google Gemini?
ChatGPT and Google Gemini are both free unless you opt for the paid plans, and both AI chatbots are trained on large natural language models, meaning their responses tend to be similar.
Google Gemini has several features that make it stand out. For one, you can get “draft” versions of the answer, which offers a variety of answers. Additionally, Google Gemini is fully up-to-date and offers access to online information.
On the other hand, ChatGPT offers impressive responses, but lacks access to up-to-date information from the Internet. ChatGPT Plus, with GPT-4o, access to DALL-E for images, navigation, and advanced data analysis, is widely regarded as the leading AI chatbot.
It's important to remember that AI chatbots can be prone to errors and biases and collect your personal data (not just the information you input) and can be tools of misuse by malicious actors. Learn more about how generative AI works, along with its benefits and dangers.
Methodology
We evaluated these products based on the free versions of ChatGPT and Google Gemini, which are free by default. We tested how the two AI chatbots would answer the same questions and asked ChatGPT and Google Gemini about more current news to test their limitations.
Editor's note: This article was originally written by Hope Reese. It was updated by Megan Crouse and expanded by Andy Wolber.
