I stopped using ChatGPT. Here's why (and what you can use instead).

Summary

Don't like OpenAI? Me neither. Let's explore some recent events and what we can do to continue using AI in a meaningful, sustainable, and more ethical way.

Intro

The dead speak! Somehow, Andres returned.

Hope everyone's been well. Between work, vacation, and the holidays, it's been a long time coming for my next post. From the title, you can kind of guess where we're heading today.

There's been a lot of change in the AI industry as of late, and one of the major players, OpenAI, has been similarly posturing themselves in ways never before seen from their company. Between new contracts, major shifts in their corporate hierarchy, and other factors, it leaves people wondering: what's next? For me, it's transitioning myself and others away from ChatGPT for more sustainable and overall ethical options when it comes to AI tooling.

Those of you that know me well know that I try to be as ethical of a consumer as is feasible. Very hard to do that effectively these days, but it's almost always worth the effort when things do line up. I'd like to approach my reasoning for abandoning ChatGPT from that lens, as well as provide some alternatives that you can use TODAY, both on the cloud and on your own devices. Let's dive in!

OpenAI's Recent Shifts

I think it's worth addressing the biggest elephant in the room with OpenAI: Their transition from a non-profit to a for-profit company.

For many, this leaves a sour taste in their mouths about our path to the idyllic "Artificial General Intelligence" or AGI. There was a lot of buy-in to support Sam Altman when they were doing AI for the good of humanity, or at least marketing themselves in that fashion as a non-profit. What happens now when their AGI is only meaningful when it's in the best interest of investors and stakeholders? It makes me think that ChatGPT doesn't have my, or really anybody I interact with's, best interest in mind. Certainly they have my best interests in regards to my (and potentially my company/employer's) data!

Another facet of the conversation that stings to me is OpenAI's recent partnership signed with defense contracting company Anduril. Yes, another defense contractor named after Lord of The Rings. Yes, that was me audibly sighing.

I generally get exhausted when people are talking about AI as it pertains to business, but I can get behind making processes better and freeing up time for more important things. What I can't really advocate for is a company willing to utilize AI to kill people. There's so many meaningful applications of AI to level the playing field for all, and I don't think leveling said playing field with a bomb is a part of that. Is my money and/or data being used for battlefield purposes? I'm not fully sure, and that uncertainty makes me concerned.

Finally, a revolving door of personnel and the recent whistleblower suicide at OpenAI is a major reason for abandoning ChatGPT.

One individual data point doesn't make a trend, of course. However, I do feel like with everything being said, hopefully this paints a picture of at least taking a second to think about whether OpenAI's tools are worth using. That all being said, we can look at some alternatives you can use if all of this makes you throw up a little in your mouth when you hear OpenAI.

Free (or Freemium) Alternatives

Realistically, if you are pretty heavily involved in utilizing AI tools, you're probably not using ChatGPT on a daily basis anyways. You've probably found some tool that better fits your use case, like Perplexity or Claude (or even built one for yourself!) I mainly want to provide awareness to other tools for those who associate AI with only ChatGPT / OpenAI. We can, and should, do better.

Cloud-Hosted

Most of these options are free or free to start, but have a premium version if you find yourself hitting their limits often.

• General Purpose:

  • Mistral leChat - There's so many options for a daily driver I can recommend, but Mistral for me has been so useful. The Pixtral Large model is multi-modal and specializes in "frontier" image recognition (charts, OCR, etc.) which is pretty useful for my day to day. You can also use it with LM Studio! More on that below.

  • Llama - I'm not a particular fan of Meta and their attempts to undermine data privacy in the EU, but I have to admit their Llama series of models work well as daily drivers. Also usable locally, but they have cloud hosted chat windows if your computer can't really support that workload.

• Research:

  • Perplexity - Many people know it, many people use it. It excels in being able to formulate research in a digestible from multiple sources.

  • Gemini Deep Research - Also a contender in the research-focused LLM arena, Google's iteration of this functionality is available for use. Good if you're invested into Google Workspace.

• Writing:

  • Claude - Killer at being able to write in a more "normal fashion," whatever that means for you. You have the ability to specify different writing styles, which can be helpful in situations where you're context switching a lot (like a startup...) with different audiences. From personal experience, great with translation as well!

• Coding:

  • Codeanywhere - Generally speaking, I haven't met anybody that prefers a Cloud hosted IDE over a local IDE, but in the event I'm living under a rock, Codeanywhere has a pretty solid free trial if you're looking for something like it. They have multiple options, including OpenAI, but you can skip over GPT in this case.

Desktop

One advantage of having something installed locally vs. using cloud options is the environmental impacts. Data privacy and security is also a big plus!

These options are generally open-source and will almost always be free, unless otherwise stated. Install and talk away!

• All-Around:LM Studio - I've talked at length about LM Studio as an app and how awesome it is for non-technical users wanting open-source LLMs. Consider taking a look at these posts if you're interested in using (virtually) any model you want.

• Research:

  • Perplexity, again - Did you know Perplexity has an app for the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and your desktop?

• Writing:

  • Claude, again - Also available as a standalone app for your device!

• Coding:

  • Refact.AI - In reality, Refact leverages Qwen2.5 Coder 1.5B (open source, can be used with LM Studio!), but the benefit is being able to install plugins for it with many preferred development environments to stay focused coding instead of switching around windows. Free trial seems pretty sizeable as well for testing.

  • Github Copilot - It's worth mentioning that Github does have their Copilot for coding in VSCode, however I feel as if the free tier's limits can be restrictive if you're working with it full-time. They use OpenAI though, which is something that I can't personally recommend.

Conclusion

This is only scratching the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what other models are out there. My recommendation? Research, test, learn, repeat. Chances are, as you learn and grow using AI, you will find new reasons why a model may not work for your use case. Tools like LMStudio (Not sponsored, wish I was!) can help you plug and play while you learn what works for you.

Hope this helps those who want to use AI but don't necessarily think ChatGPT is the best option, for whatever reason. Happy holidays if you don't hear from me before the new year!

Thankfully, one benefit of disappearing off the face of the earth for a bit was having time for holiday pictures with my family. Here's one of many pictures to come from that session of Cha Cha!