Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. Guides

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Here’s the ChatGPT word limit and how to get around it

Fionna Agomuoh
By

Fans of ChatGPT adore the AI chatbot for several purposes, including its ability to generate detailed essays in a matter of seconds. However, one of its little-known limitations is that there is a word and character limit set on how much content it can output per query.

Reddit members and other AI enthusiasts have been discussing this for months, and luckily there are easy workarounds for this limitation by way of the prompts you can use.

Recommended Videos

What is the ChatGPT word limit?

ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI. set the word and character limit as part of its ongoing development of the AI chatbot, which is still in its research preview phase. Some of the issues with ChatGPT include its affinity toward “social biases, hallucinations, and adversarial prompts,” in addition to producing inaccurate content when the AI algorithm is overwhelmed or at a loss for information to process.

Related

Similarly, ChatGPT might simply stop producing content when the request is too complex for the AI to handle. This happens at about 500 words or 4,000 characters. If you happen to give the chatbot a request for a specific number of words above 500, you might find that it cuts off midsentence somewhere after 500 words.

How to get around the ChatGPT word limit

To remedy this issue, you can use simple prompts such as go on, keep going, or continue. For example, I inputted the query write me a 1000-word essay on the history of Irish whiskey, and ChatGPT cut off midsentence at about 618 words. After inputting go on, ChatGPT continued generating my essay and ended at 1,043 words.

Another way to do this workaround is to set up your prompt with the word limit in mind. You can input write me the first 500 words of a 1000-word essay on XYZ so that ChatGPT knows to stop at a certain point. Then you can input go on, keep going, continue, or a similar prompt.

What OpenAI is doing to update ChatGPT

Many of the ChatGPT word and character limitations are based on the GPT-3.5 language model. ChatGPT was introduced to the public in November 2022 based on GPT-3.5. However, OpenAI recently announced its latest language model, GPT-4, which comes with increased word support, among other features. OpenAI claims GPT-4 can process up to 25,000 words of text with greater accuracy, context, and creativity.

GPT-4 is currently available for ChatGPT Plus users and developers through the API. The free version of ChatGPT continues to run on the GPT-3.5 language model. There is currently no word on if or when it will update to GPT-4.

OpenAI has also collaborated with several businesses, organizations, and even governments on GPT-4. Microsoft also confirmed that its new Bing Search featuring an AI chatbot is based on GPT-4. The updated search engine debuted in February. However, Bing Chat has its own issues, giving users such depressed and unhinged responses that Microsoft put its own daily turn limits on how much the chatbot could process. Eventually, the brand began increasing conversation support again, which is now up to 150 daily turns.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Fionna Agomuoh
Fionna Agomuoh
Computing Writer
Fionna Agomuoh is a technology journalist with over a decade of experience writing about various consumer electronics topics…
OpenAI’s new tool can spot fake AI images, but there’s a catch
OpenAI Dall-E 3 alpha test version image.

Images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) have been causing plenty of consternation in recent months, with people understandably worried that they could be used to spread misinformation and deceive the public. Now, ChatGPT maker OpenAI is apparently working on a tool that can detect AI-generated images with 99% accuracy.

According to Bloomberg, OpenAI’s tool is designed to root out user-made pictures created by its own Dall-E 3 image generator. Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event, Mira Murati, chief technology officer at OpenAI, claimed the tool is “99% reliable.” While the tech is being tested internally, there’s no release date yet.

Read more
Bing Chat just beat a security check to stop hackers and spammers
A depiction of a hacker breaking into a system via the use of code.

Bing Chat is no stranger to controversy -- in fact, sometimes it feels like there’s a never-ending stream of scandals surrounding it and tools like ChatGPT -- and now the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot has found itself in hot water over its ability to defeat a common cybersecurity measure.

According to Denis Shiryaev, the CEO of AI startup Neural.love, chatbots like Bing Chat and ChatGPT can potentially be used to bypass a CAPTCHA code if you just ask them the right set of questions. If this turns out to be a widespread issue, it could have worrying implications for everyone’s online security.

Read more
ChatGPT: the latest news, controversies, and tips you need to know
ChatGPT app running on an iPhone.

ChatGPT has continued to dazzle the internet with AI-generated content, morphing from a novel chatbot into a piece of technology that is driving the next era of innovation. No tech product in recent memory has sparked as much interest, controversy, fear, and excitement.

If you're just now catching on, it'd be fair to wonder what the fuss is all about. You can try it out for yourself for free (or use the official free iOS app), but here's the detailed guide you've been looking for -- whether you're worried about an AI apocalypse or are just looking for an intro guide to the app.

Read more