Yes, there's a free plan with unlimited everyday text chats, subject to OpenAI's abuse safeguards, and limits on uploads, images and other tools. Paid plans add more. See is ChatGPT free in the UK?

ChatGPT is made and run by OpenAI, an American company.

Is ChatGPT safe to use for my business?

It can be, if you keep personal and confidential data out of personal accounts and check its work. See is ChatGPT safe for business?

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What is ChatGPT?

Last checked: 17 October 2026 · The AI Till, UK

Short answer

ChatGPT is an AI assistant made by OpenAI. You type (or say) a request in plain English and it writes a reply: an email, a quote description, a social post, a summary of a long document or an answer to a question. It has a free plan, works in the UK, and makes mistakes, so check what it writes.

What it actually does

ChatGPT is built on a large language model: software trained on huge amounts of text to predict useful wording. That makes it good at language jobs and weaker at facts it has to remember.

Good at:

First drafts of emails, texts, quotes, job adverts and policies
Rewriting something in a friendlier or firmer tone
Summarising a long PDF, contract or email thread you paste in
Turning rough notes into a tidy list or table
Explaining something in plain English

Weak at:

Exact facts, figures, prices and recent rules. It can state wrong things confidently (see what an AI hallucination is).
UK specifics unless you ask for them. Tell it "UK, British English, VAT at 20%" in the prompt.
Anything where a mistake is expensive, such as tax, legal wording or safety, unless a person checks it.

How to start in ten minutes

Go to chatgpt.com or download the official app (made by OpenAI).
Make a free account, then open Settings and Data controls. Decide whether to turn off "Improve the model for everyone" (see does ChatGPT use my data for training?).
Try one real job: paste a customer email (without their name or address) and ask for a polite reply.
Read the reply, fix anything wrong, then send it yourself.

Our beginner's guide to the first three tasks and the free prompt pack give you prompts to copy.

ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Claude

They're competing assistants that do broadly the same job. Copilot is Microsoft's and sits inside Word, Excel and Outlook on some plans; Gemini is Google's and links to Gmail and Docs; Claude is made by Anthropic. Compare them in ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini for business or ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot.

Sources

Checked 17 October 2026. Rules and prices change, so check the source before you rely on it. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.

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