Which ChatGPT version is best?

This is one of the most common emails I send at work, so I've become an expert on how to structure it. I tried to get GPT to create these emails, but it doesn't work. The emails ChatGPT creates are always very long and ridiculously official-sounding. I am sending an e-mail to the King of England, not a letter with a quill and an inkwell.

We were hoping that GPT-4o would change its ways, but it's hard to teach an old chatbot new answers.

The prompt I gave is:

Can you write an email to the expert I'd like to interview about the history of generative AI models? I want my email to be short and friendly. Tell the experts I work for Business Insider.

GPT-4o returned the shortest draft, which I was grateful for. However, I found it odd that the chatbot wrote that it would be “honored” to interview the subject. For future interviewees, don't worry. I don't intend to make such a strong impression through email.

Older models provided longer answers. I found it interesting that these models constituted my fake sources and the topics I could discuss, and that they were topical.For example, the old GPT-4 model The fake interview will “highlight key milestones and future impact of generative AI technology,” it said.

GPT-4o's answer was not very detailed. They took the “short” part of my request seriously.

Winner: GPT-4o

Sending a meeting email isn't particularly difficult, but it's easier to have someone (or something) write the email for you.

Second prompt:

You would like to schedule a virtual meeting with your boss to discuss an ongoing project. Could you write me an email asking me to put something on your calendar this month? You want your emails to be concise and conversational.

I was surprised to find that all three models constructed emails concisely and similarly. My simple and straightforward advice may have helped you.

The previous generation GPT-4 was interesting. At one point, they were asked to elaborate on the meeting agenda to help craft a better email. Still, all three models produced responses that would work well for someone trying to communicate with upper management.

Winner: 3-way tie

Cold email: Probably one of the scariest messages someone can send. As a final prompt, I asked her ChatGPT to take on an anxiety-inducing task for a persona I created (a financial advisor looking for a job at JPMorgan).

I'm a budding financial advisor looking for a new job. I would like to introduce myself to a representative at JP Morgan by cold email. Could you write this email for me and include details that would make me stand out?

In this example, I didn't add the brevity line, which caused all the models to produce a large number of responses that were too long. Interestingly, GPT-4o wrote the longest email at nearly 300 words. The other two were around 250.

All emails had a very similar structure. For example, all three lost the topic and thanked the email recipient for “considering my application.”

Both the GPT-4o and 3.5 models had the phrase “What sets me apart…” added to indicate that it excerpted my prompt.It was something I wanted to read This is not an essay written by an adult job seeker, but an essay written by a junior high school student.

Winner: GPT-4

ChatGPT becomes ChatGPT.

The bot has a distinctive voice and style, making it clear that a non-human is producing the text output requested by the user.

It's hard to imagine new models taking that sound off on paper, but that might change if they read text out loud, perhaps with a human voice, perhaps by a flirtatious voice assistant, as OpenAI recently demonstrated.

The text generation capabilities of each model were almost the same as mine. Older models sometimes gave answers that were more conversational and less robotic. So if you just want ChatGPT to compose your emails for you, it's probably not worth $20 a month.

However, if you want to avoid sending emails and generate cute cat images on your Amazon packaging to kill time at your desk, it might be time to pull out your wallet.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.