If you are browsing GBT chat apps on the App Store, proceed with caution.
The immense popularity of ChatGPT has led to an increase in imitators who mislead users. Since OpenAI launched an API for ChatGPT, developers have been able to build their apps and products using the Large Language Model (LLM). But developers have flooded the App Store with similar formats that use shady tactics to gain subscriptions and ratings. Security researcher Alex Kleber discovered it(Opens in a new tab) Multiple cloning app instances created by the same developer. So consumers may think they are choosing between competing chatbot applications, when in reality they are only choosing between two applications that have identical code but only slightly different names and interfaces.
ChatGPT offers important privacy options
To sign up, ChatGPT is free and does not have a mobile app. For $20 per month, you can pay for a ChatGPT Plus subscription that gives you availability even during peak hours and faster response times. But other than that, anyone can access ChatGPT’s core features. Also, even though there is no app, you can also easily use it on your phone’s browser.
If you’ve been using OpenAI’s official ChatGPT site, many of these third-party apps will look quite familiar to you. Many of these apps that appear in search results on the App Store have a green system and logo similar to OpenAI. It is as if they are trying to appear as the real deal for users who are looking for an official app that does not exist.
There are legitimate AI chatbot apps that use the OpenAI API and provide value. Perhaps this type of value-added application may be of interest to you. So if you’re in the market for an app like this, here’s what to look for if you don’t like the idea of ChatGPT knockoffs.
Paywall windows with no close button
“AI Chat Bot- Writing Assistant” and “ChatBot Powered by GPT-4” are two desktop applications that have a free version and a paid version, which charge $5.99 per week and $4.99 per week respectively. But the apps intentionally disguise the use of the free version by not providing an obvious close button for the paywall that pops up when downloading apps. (The AI Chat Bot- Writing Assistant has a small gray “Skip Offer” button at the bottom of the screen.) Screenshots provided by Kleber show how there’s no way to close the window, forcing the user to opt-in or exit the app.
AI Chat Bot- Writing Assistant does not have a close button for its paywall window.
Credit: Alex Clipper
The ChatBot supported by GPT-4 also does not have a close button.
Credit: Alex Clipper
Mashable found another example of this with a mobile app called “AI Chat – Chatbot AI Assistant.” The firewall appears immediately upon downloading the application, but the “X” button does not appear for several seconds. This may lead users to believe that their only option is to click the “Start Free Trial” button, which starts charging the user after three days.
The Close Chatbot Al Assistant button does not appear until after several seconds.
Credit: Mashable
Superficial means of obtaining a rating
This same app (AI Chat – Chatbot AI Assistant) asks the user to review the app once it is installed. This is bad practice according to the App Store Guidelines(Opens in a new tab)which states “Avoid showing a review request immediately when a user launches your app, even if it’s not their first time running it”.
Al Chat – Chatbot Al Assistant requests a rating as soon as you open Mashable.
Credit: Mashable
The desktop apps Kleber looked at did as well, also prompting the user to rate the app every time they asked a question in the chat. Asking for a review immediately when the user has not tried the app, however, is a tactic commonly used by scammers to quickly achieve higher ratings in the App Store. Users are forced to rate the app in order to be able to start using it.
ChatGPT replicas have all or most five-star ratings, which is a red flag. Sure, a lot of great apps have suitably great reviews, but if every review is five stars with emphatic but generic reviews, the reviews are probably fake.
Same developer, different apps
Many of these apps were created by the same developer using many different developer accounts. In Kleber’s report, note that one developer in particular has deployed versions of ChatGPT across eight separate developer accounts.
Why is this important? Having more than one developer account isn’t against Apple’s Terms of Service, and there are legitimate reasons to do so. Suppose, for example, that a developer creates both a social networking app and a niche e-commerce platform, and wants to make them two distinct entities.
But in many cases, these ChatGPT implementations were nothing special. They were cloned, possibly with minor modifications, treated as separate apps, and published in the App Store under separate names. A developer doing this could populate the App Store with multiple versions of the same app in order to dominate search results for AI chat apps, stifling any potential competition. Consumers are left with the wrong choices, not knowing that the smart chatbot apps they are trying to choose from are actually carbon copies with the same developer behind them.
And cheat the system in such ways He is against(Opens in a new tab) Apple App Store Policies.
Cut and dry tricks? Not so fast.
Most of the time any chatbot or typing app you see will be powered by AI by OpenAI. OpenAI makes its APIs available and fairly low cost so that developers can use them to build things. As long as these developers don’t claim affiliation with OpenAI or call their products, say, an “official ChatGPT app,” they’re probably in the clear in terms of legality and App Store rules.
And just recreating a free trial in the form of an app doesn’t make the product suspicious. Some developers have created applications that provide access to the language model, but with a simpler user interface or many different prompt templates. There is added value there.
But overall, those who download ChatGPT replicas don’t seem to get much if anything isn’t already available on the ChatGPT mobile site. It is possible that those who pay money to use these apps did not read the fine print.