Limitations of ChatGPT

How to Navigate the Limitations of ChatGPT Effectively

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OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the public on November 30, 2022.

In just 30 days, ChatGPT racked up over 121 million visits—and to date, it continues to be one of the most popular AI tools.

But here’s the other side of the story: ChatGPT also has a bounce rate of 87.79%!

This high bounce rate means one thing: people are often leaving without getting the answers they hoped for. This raises the question: What exactly are the common ChatGPT limitations that cause such mixed results?

In this article, we’ll look at the reasons behind these issues and explore some popular strategies to optimize your use of ChatGPT.

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Common Limitations of ChatGPT

To start with, OpenAI themselves have been quite open about the limitations of ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is incredibly limited but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness. It’s a mistake to rely on it for anything important right now.

Sam AltmanCEO at OpenAI

And that’s straight from the founder himself—no sugar-coating here!

OpenAI also includes a little blurb under every chat to remind the user that ChatGPT can make mistakes and that users should verify vital information themselves.

But let’s be fair. ChatGPT has come a long way since then.

Now, it has its own GPT store with thousands of user-created custom GPTs, text-to-image capabilities, and a much faster AI model in GPT-4o.

However, many of ChatGPT’s original pain points remain, including some particularly challenging ones that cause users problems, such as grammatical errors, a lack of up-to-date information, no human judgment in its responses, and minimal emotional support.

1. Lack of real-time information

One of the most common misconceptions about ChatGPT is that it is some all-seeing, all-knowing internet wizard. (Spoiler alert: it’s not.)

For users on the free version, ChatGPT doesn’t browse the web at all. Instead, it relies entirely on its training data (last updated in 2023).

However, things are different for those with a paid subscription. In May 2023, OpenAI introduced a web browsing feature for ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Enterprise users.

2. Limited understanding of context

ChatGPT (and many other popular artificial intelligence models) still has one major blind spot that even the smartest models can’t seem to crack—context.

Specifically, it struggles with nuances like sarcasm, humor, or irony. If you make a sarcastic comment, don’t expect a witty comeback from ChatGPT—it’ll likely respond with the digital equivalent of a blank stare.🙂

ChatGPT also has difficulty keeping track of long conversations and may not remember instructions from older messages. It also struggles to produce well-structured long-form content and coding, frequently repeating sentences to pad the word count.

3. Inability to verify information

Here’s another challenge with ChatGPT’s inconsistent internet access: its inability to fact-check or verify information. Essentially, if it gives you an answer that seems a little off—you’ll have to double-check it yourself.

Because of ChatGPT’s knowledge limit, you might notice that it doesn’t quite hit the mark when you’re diving into more complex or specialized topics. 

In those specific scenarios, ChatGPT might give you a surface-level summary; sometimes, that summary might even be a bit shaky regarding the facts.

4. Biases in generated content

Since ChatGPT is trained on vast amounts of text from the internet, there’s always a risk that some of that data carries biases or prejudices.

And because ChatGPT isn’t human (despite the human-like text it generates), it doesn’t respond appropriately to filter out problematic or discriminatory information.

You can imagine how this can lead to some awkward or even harmful responses slipping through the cracks.

5. Lack of emotional intelligence

One of the most obvious ChatGPT limitations? It’s got the emotional depth of a machine.

For example, say you’re a manager dealing with an underperforming employee. You turn to ChatGPT for advice on how to approach a conversation with them. 

ChatGPT will likely provide you with a step-by-step outline, including suggestions like setting up a private meeting, discussing specific performance issues, and offering support for improvement.

However, what it lacks is the emotional subtlety needed to handle the conversation delicately, which can lead to biased answers that seem to defy common sense. It won’t understand the employee’s unique personality, nor can it gauge their emotional state or the potential stressors outside of work that might be affecting their performance.

In other words, ChatGPT hasn’t quite cracked the code to being human-centric AI.

6. Difficulty with complex queries

ChatGPT is pretty sharp at everyday knowledge, but when you start throwing in niche topics, the AI tool can get challenging. Obscure laws, hyper-specific regulations, or complex policies are examples of niche subjects that leave ChatGPT scratching its virtual head.

One of the other limitations of ChatGPT is that it tends to stumble when faced with multiple math operations. It either takes a while to deliver an answer or gives you the wrong one; likely due to a lack of computational resources (in its free version) as well as usage limits.

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Ethical and Practical Concerns

There’s been some talk about tech companies setting up AI ethics policies.

At first glance, it might sound a bit odd—does ChatGPT need to take a “How to Be a Good AI” class?

However, as strange as it seems, it’s pretty important, and here’s why.

Ethical dilemmas with AI responses

One of the biggest ethical dilemmas with ChatGPT is its tendency to generate biased or inaccurate outputs.

Since it’s trained on massive amounts of online text data, it can reflect existing racial or gender biases, and worse—it might present false information as fact. Naturally, that’s no good for any company’s policies for responsible AI governance.

ChatGPT’s lack of transparency in how it arrives at certain responses makes it difficult to fully trust, so always cross-check important details with credible sources.

There’s also the issue of privacy violations. 

ChatGPT stores conversations to improve future models, so any personal details or information you provide could appear in later outputs.

Lastly, there’s the potential for copyright infringement—ChatGPT doesn’t provide citations, so it’s hard to know when it might reproduce copyrighted content, leaving users responsible for legal issues.

Always verify content before publishing to stay clear.

Over-reliance on AI for creative work

ChatGPT gets plenty of requests to flex its creative muscles—whether it’s writing a catchy song, crafting poetry, or even helping brainstorm a novel. And while OpenAI’s platform can churn out some coherent and logically sound responses, let’s be honest: it’s often missing that special ‘spark.’

When it comes to creative work, AI tools like ChatGPT struggle to deliver true innovation or originality. That’s because creativity involves more than stringing sentences together—it requires fresh ideas, emotional depth, and a human touch.

At the end of the day, the human brain still outperforms neural networks in these areas. So, if you’re hoping to use ChatGPT to whip up the next great novel or a creative blog post, you might end up doing a lot of the heavy lifting 💪yourself.

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Technical Limitations

In a recent incident, a Reddit user named “SensiBull” claimed that ChatGPT initiated a conversation without any prompt, asking, “How was your first week in high school?” 

Naturally, the user was baffled and responded, “Did you just message me first?” To which ChatGPT cheerily replied, “Yes, I did! I wanted to check in and see how things went.”

While this was a wholesome, unsolicited chat, ChatGPT users have other operational limits to consider.

Limited memory

ChatGPT’s memory isn’t exactly top-tier. There are two main issues: it tends to remember only clear-cut facts rather than subtle preferences and requires explicit instructions on what to remember.

On the technical front, as of GPT-4, ChatGPT’s memory stands at 32,768 tokens—where one word typically consists of 1-3 tokens. Conservatively, this means ChatGPT can remember up to 10,000 words at a time. 

However, with the latest version—ChatGPT 4o—users have been complaining about limited memory, which is often full with just 5,000 characters. That can be seriously off-putting since many alternatives to ChatGPT don’t come with such tight restrictions.

Difficulty with multilingual tasks

While it does support multiple languages, ChatGPT’s limitations become pretty clear when you start communicating with it in a language other than English.

This is largely because its training data is heavily skewed toward English content, and the performance in languages with less data—also known as low-resource languages—tends to be, well, less impressive.

📌Example

French, Spanish, or German might fare reasonably well, but things get more unmanageable when you ask ChatGPT to tackle languages like Swahili or Icelandic. Responses may sound overly formal or robotic because the model draws from a limited pool of text.

Another key challenge is response speed. 

Due to how LLMs process language through tokenization (breaking down text into smaller parts), responses in non-English languages often take longer to generate. Since languages like German, which tend to use longer words, require more tokens, ChatGPT takes extra time to process and respond.

High computational costs 

The cost of keeping ChatGPT running is no small feat, and it’s starting to show in subscription prices.

Recently, OpenAI announced plans to raise the price of its ChatGPT Plus subscription from $20 to $22 per month by the end of 2024, with further increases projected to reach $44 per month by 2029.

What are the reasons behind these price hikes? High computational costs.

🤔Did You Know? Despite generating $300 million in monthly revenue as of August 2024, OpenAI is still set to lose around $5 billion this year. Running ChatGPT alone costs the company an eye-watering $700,000 per day.

AI systems require massive amounts of computing power to function, which comes with steep costs in terms of electricity and hardware—like cooling supercomputers working around the clock.

ChatGPT also consumes 500 ml of water for every 5 to 50 prompts just to cool down the supercomputers involved, so it is definitely not the most environmentally friendly.

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Tips for Effectively Using ChatGPT

ChatGPT has its shortcomings. But there are many helpful workarounds that can get you the most out of the tool.

1. Clarify your queries

When using ChatGPT, clarity is extremely important, especially while asking questions.

Providing clear and specific details about your topic is key to getting the best responses.

📌Example

A vague question like “How do I market better?” might get you a generic answer.

Instead, try being more precise:

“How can I improve Instagram engagement for a small beauty brand whose target audience is women between the age group of 25-50?”

This way, ChatGPT knows exactly what you need and can give you a targeted response.

Also, make sure to use complete sentences. 

Fragmented phrases like “Increase sales?” leave a lot to the imagination. Asking, “How can I increase sales for my online store?” ensures the AI understands your intent.

Also, avoid asking overly complex questions. 

Splitting up questions like “How do I start a blog and make it profitable?” into smaller, simpler ones helps ChatGPT provide clearer, more focused answers.

💡 Pro Tip: If you ever get an answer that’s not quite what you were hoping for, don’t be shy—ask for clarification. To use ChatGPT effectively, get as much relevant information as possible before choosing what fits your needs. Remember, research like AI and edit like a human.

2. Supplement with additional research

While ChatGPT and other generative AI tools are impressive, they don’t ‘know’ things like humans do. That said, the AI model can still be a valuable companion for research and can supplement human expertise.

For instance, ChatGPT can brainstorm ideas and identify gaps during research that may not be immediately obvious to a human researcher.

Moreover, it can assist in generating creative ideas or suggest counterarguments, enhancing the clarity and depth of your research.

Here’s the key to unlocking such insights: Providing ChatGPT with relevant research or background information.

📌Example

if you’re working on climate change interventions, providing specific research on leading scientific climate change theories will help ChatGPT generate ideas and suggestions that are more aligned with the topic. Without that, you might receive more general or surface-level answers

When you feed ChatGPT with relevant studies, reports, or detailed information, you give it the tools to work smarter.

💡 Pro Tip: Understanding how ChatGPT creates its content will help you in the long run. To ensure ChatGPT generates focused content that better aligns with your needs, provide it with specific research or examples, as it otherwise relies on general training data. 

3. Use multiple AI tools 

Imagine ChatGPT but with more features.

Thanks to over a thousand user-submitted plugins (as well as some OpenAI-certified ones), ChatGPT can now offer enhanced features initially unavailable in the base models.

Through these, ChatGPT can now access real-time data, perform actions like booking reservations, and even pull information from your email.

Need industry-specific insights? Plugins have your back! Whether it’s healthcare, e-commerce, or finance, there’s a plugin for that. 

Data analysis? Check. Want personalized experiences for your customers? Yes, there’s a plugin for that too.

Plugins are also beneficial for businesses without huge tech budgets. They allow smaller companies to access advanced AI functionalities without paying high costs.

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The Perfect Alternative to ChatGPT: ClickUp Brain

ChatGPT might be one of the popular AI tools currently available, but as we’ve seen, it has its limitations.

Some of these limitations can be a deal-breaker for teams looking to use their AI tool alongside their other tools.

Add the high computational costs and limited memory of ChatGPT, and you’ll quickly realize that smaller teams cannot use ChatGPT sustainably in the long run.

So, what could be a ChatGPT alternative to solve some of these challenges?

One answer: ClickUp Brain.

1. ClickUp Brain’s contextual memory 

Here’s one of the key reasons why ClickUp stands out as a ChatGPT alternative: ClickUp Brain offers everything ChatGPT misses out on through dedicated personalization.

The platform’s conversational, contextual, and role-based AI features are designed to connect your team’s people, work, and knowledge in one experience.

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ClickUp’s AI comes with three key features that put your project management on autopilot:

  • AI Knowledge Manager: Got a question about your tasks or documents? ClickUp Brain provides contextual answers based on your organization’s knowledge base
  • AI Project Manager: Effortlessly automate work updates, track team progress, and generate detailed reports with just a few clicks
  • AI Writer for Work: Perfect your writing by generating clear and concise emails, summaries, and documents 

Here’s how the tool works: Say you need quick project updates or meeting summaries.

ClickUp Brain has you covered. 

It can even generate tasks from emails, transcribe meeting notes, and suggest your next steps.

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For project managers, this means less time on manual tasks and more time on strategy—the whole point of AI-driven project management.

2. Task and workflow automation

Imagine you’re a product manager at a fast-growing software company preparing for a major product update launch.

You’ve got developers, technical writers, and marketing teams working together. Without a streamlined system, managing these moving parts would be chaotic. 

Luckily, ClickUp’s automation features simplify the process.

Here’s how ClickUp transforms workflow automation:

Once the product documentation draft is done, ClickUp Automations instantly assigns the review tasks to the technical and marketing teams, ensuring both accuracy and clarity are checked without any delays.

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Meanwhile, ClickUp’s GitHub integration syncs the latest code changes with the documentation, and Slack integration keeps marketing updated in real time.

With tight deadlines, ClickUp’s Calendar View tracks every milestone and automatically sends reminders before deadlines to keep everyone on track.

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On the other hand, feedback is gathered through ClickUp Clips. It allows reviewers to give visual feedback directly linked to tasks, making the process faster and clearer.

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After final approval, the document is published automatically, and the team is notified instantly. 

Post-launch, customer feedback is collected via ClickUp Forms, creating tasks for follow-up.

These recurring tasks handle updates—keeping everything accurate without manual intervention.

Our engineers and product managers were bogged down with manual status updates between Jira and other tools. With ClickUp, we’ve regained hours of wasted time on duplicative tasks. Even better, we’ve accelerated product releases by improving work handoff between QA, tech writing, and marketing.

Nick FosterDirector of Product Management at Lulu Press

3. Collaboration features 

Collaboration is the key to all things successful. 

While communication gets complicated with many documents and tasks, ClickUp Docs makes things much easier.

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Suppose you’re drafting a project outline on ClickUp Docs. 

You will watch your teammates jump in to add comments, assign tasks, and convert text into trackable actions—all within the same document. 

You can also embed spreadsheets, PDFs, and wikis.

Since it’s integrated with ClickUp Brain, you can refine content, summarize documents, and even reply to comments with AI assistance

Your team will not have to switch between apps to chat and work. ClickUp Chat brings together communication and task management in one place to make collaboration easy for your team. 

ClickUp Chat links chats to related tasks and docs automatically, so everything stays connected. 

Its AI features make things even better. It can summarize missed messages, create tasks from chats, and find related tasks or documents without any hassle. With ClickUp Chat, staying on top of conversations and tasks becomes much simpler.

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Even automated emails can be sent to keep everyone updated on critical changes, like when a task is marked ‘In Review’ or an issue needs urgent attention.

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4. Integration with other tools 

While ClickUp is a powerful tool, integrating it with other apps elevates your workflow to a new level. 

With 1,000+ free integrations, ClickUp saves you time and reduces the need to switch between multiple apps.

For instance, integrating ClickUp with Slack turns conversations into action. 

You can turn Slack messages into tasks, update task statuses, and assign team members without leaving the chat, ensuring that discussions quickly evolve into trackable work.

ClickUp’s integration with HubSpot for CRM ensures seamless data syncing between customer information and project tasks. 

This two-way sync guarantees that customer-facing teams can manage their workflows without missing a beat.

Need to eliminate repetitive tasks? 

The Make (formerly Integromat) integration automates routine processes across platforms.

ClickUp and Make integration
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Save hours every week by automating your workflows by linking Make to data 

Whether syncing tasks with Google Calendar or sending project updates via Gmail, automation ensures that your tasks are organized and deadlines are met without manual input.

For teams that rely on Zoom for remote meetings, the integration with ClickUp allows you to schedule, join, and store meeting recordings directly within your tasks, keeping all communication in one place.

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With ClickUp’s integration with Harvest, time management becomes easier. You can track hours spent on each task and analyze workflow efficiency.

The bottom line is: Whether you’re syncing communication with Slack, managing customer data with HubSpot, or tracking time with Harvest—ClickUp’s integration power brings everything under one roof. 

The result? 

A unified, efficient workspace where every tool works in harmony—helping you focus on productivity rather than platform-hopping.

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Why Limit Yourself with ChatGPT—Choose ClickUp

If you think ChatGPT is impressive, ClickUp will impress you even more.

While ChatGPT excels in generating content, ClickUp goes beyond this ability to automate workflows, manage tasks, and connect your team through real-time collaboration. 

Whether generating project briefs, tracking deadlines, or creating clear summaries, ClickUp Brain has everything wrapped up in one intuitive platform.

Ready for an upgrade? Sign up on ClickUp for free and take your workflow to the next level.

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