--- title: "OpenAI Pauses New ChatGPT App After People Used It to Read Paywalled Content for Free" description: "Binged Up Less than two weeks after launching its \"Browse With Bing\" integration, OpenAI has put the kibosh on the plugin after users were able to bypass paywalls with the app. In a tweet posted earlier this week, OpenAI admitted that the new feature integrated into the ChatGPT mobile app \"can occasionally display content in […]" date: "2023-07-05" modified: "2023-07-05" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-pauses-chatgpt-bing" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "bing" - "chatgpt" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI Pauses New ChatGPT App After People Used It to Read Paywalled Content for Free ![OpenAI has put the kibosh on its "Browse With Bing" plugin after users were able to bypass paywalls with it.]() *\Image: NurPhoto via Getty / Futurism\* ## Jumping Paywalls Less than two weeks after launching its "Browse With Bing" browser integration, OpenAI has put the kibosh on the plugin after users were able to [bypass paywalls]() on websites with the app. In a [tweet posted]() earlier this week, OpenAI admitted that the new feature integrated into the ChatGPT mobile app "can occasionally display content in ways we don't want, e.g. if a user specifically asks for a URL's full text, it may inadvertently fulfill this request" — which is a fancy way of saying that it allowed users to jump article paywalls. "We are disabling Browse while we fix this — want to do right by content owners," OpenAI continued. In the [now-amended blog post]() announcing the beta program, OpenAI said that it had temporarily disabled the integration "out of an abundance of caution" and that it would hopefully be back up shortly. That means paying ChatGPT Plus customers, who shell out $20 a month, now have access to a far more limited set of tools — and that isn't likely going to help OpenAI in its efforts to monetize the tech. The incident also highlights the contentious issue of AI companies training their models on scraped data without compensating content creators. ## Plus/Minus The new rollback could severely limit the usefulness of ChatGPT. According to [*TechCrunch*](), prior to OpenAI's Bing integration feature, the chatbot was only trained on data up to 2021, which means that if you want to search the web with ChatGPT right now, you won't get any current answers. In other words, ChatGPT is back to being oblivious to anything that happened after September 2021. And that has angered users, who are now grappling with a far more limited AI chatbot despite paying $20 a month. "Let’s say I needed it to read a certain repository or topic on GitHub or some forum where the language is foreign to me, now it can’t?" one user [wrote]() in an OpenAI forum. "You’ve got to be kidding me." As with everything ChatGPT-related, this latest misfire is another example of the [many]() and [often-hilarious]() ways artificial intelligence chatbots can be used and [abused](). **More on OpenAI:** [*OpenAI CEO Says He Loses Sleep Over Decision to Release ChatGPT*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()