How to use ChatGPT: A beginner's guide to mastering OpenAI's chatbot in 2026

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ChatGPT can help with writing, research, images, files, and apps. Free users can start fast, but paid plans unlock higher limits. Projects, memory, and voice mode make ChatGPT more useful. It will be four years this fall since ChatGPT launched, turning AI from something most people talked to for fun on their phones or home speakers into a tool they could use to debug code, create presentations, generate images, shop, and plan trips. In fact, the phrase "chatbot" now feels a little too small, and maybe even dated, for what ChatGPT can do today. New use cases are constantly being developed for and because of AI, and ChatGPT itself now has to keep up with an exploding industry filled with competitors, from Anthropic's Claude to Google's Gemini. Still, if you want to try AI, the OG is a good place to start. You can type, talk, upload a file, connect an app, and let it generate away. What you'll need: ChatGPT is available on the web, desktop, or a mobile app for iOS and Android. You don't need to create an account, but you probably should. Maybe start with a…