Generative AI Vs ChatGPT: Key Features, Differences, & Future

AI (Artificial Intelligence) has made an extraordinary shift in the working behaviour of people in the last decade. From revamping how someone creates, communicates, and works, AI has had a large impact. And one of the most popular developments in how people are using AI is generative AI, which is often used interchangeably with ChatGPT (a conversational model which is developed by OpenAI).

While both are somehow related to each other, we should keep in mind that they are not exactly the same. On one hand, generative AI is the broad spectrum of AI systems using which we can generate new content for us, like images, videos, content, or even music. ChatGPT is an application used to generate and understand human text through interaction. Here, in this blog, we will understand what the meanings of 'generative AI' and 'ChatGPT' are and how they are connected yet different.

What Is Generative AI?

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a type of AI that aims to create new content instead of just examining or analysing the existing content. This model generate original new content like audio, video, text, etc., based on the instructions given by the user as per their requirements

How Does Generative AI Work?

This type of AI uses machine learning algorithms to create the content with the help of deep learning methods. And one such technique that is used by this AI model is transformer architecture that processes large amounts of data and analyses their relationship to give the best results.

Some of the most common types of generative AI models are as given below:

• Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs): This model consists of two networks, namely, a generator network and a discriminator network, that compete continuously to improve their output quality. This model is commonly used to generate videos, images, etc.
• Variational Autoencoders (VAEs): This generative model is used in machine learning to create new data by compressing data into a smaller space and then reconstructing it. This one is used to generate realistic variations of existing data given by the user.
• Transformers: This model is a type of neural network architecture that is used to understand and generate data in sequence format. These have revolutionised the text generative AI tasks and made them quite easy to understand for the user.

Tasks Done By Generative AI:

Generative AI can be easily used to perform a wide range of creative tasks, and some of them are given below:

• Write essays, create reports, or draft stories based on your thoughts.
• Composing music.
• Creating digital art or designs.
• Generating codes and algorithms.
• Producing datasets for training AI models, and much more.

What Is ChatGPT?

It is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI using generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) that generates human-like text based on the commands given by the user. The primary function of this tool is to engage the user in a natural conversation, like answering questions, brainstorming ideas for new creations, and creating relevant content.

Evolution of ChatGPT Over the Years:

The version of ChatGPT we see today was not the one it was during its initial years. It has been constantly evolving over the years using the natural language processing method. The evolution of ChatGPT can be easily understood through the following points:

• GPT: The original model of ChatGPT was released in 2018 and demonstrated the potential of being a large-scale language.
• GPT-2: After a year, in 2019, its performance was improved based on the feedback of users. One of its major key features was its ability to generate long paragraphs of fluent text.
• GPT-3: The model further improved in 2020, and its third version, with almost 175 billion parameters, showed its remarkable ability in performing excellent conversations. creating codes, and writing.
• ChatGPT: Then came two varied versions, namely, GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, which were optimised for dialogue conversations through reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF).
• GPT-5: The latest version of GPT was released in 2025, and it represents an even more advanced model which is able to perform reasoning and critical thinking along with factual accuracy and understanding of text, images, and code.

Working Method of ChatGPT:

To make ChatGPT today’s advanced version that is able to perform long data queries, it uses transformer neural network architecture and is trained using a massive database including books, articles, websites, and much more. It can even learn patterns a human language uses, like tone, grammar, intent and semantics, and thus can generate relevant responses which are natural, making a sound conversation.

Steps used by ChatGPT to generate the result are:

• Input: First step is to get a command (known as a prompt in GPT world) by the user based on their requirement.
• Processes: Then it processes the input and understands what the user wants.
• Generates: After the process, it generates a sequence of words that best fit the context.
• Refines: Even after generation, it checks the response through internal evaluation and feedback mechanisms, and only after that does it give you the result.

ChatGPT doesn’t act and think like a human but uses probability-based prediction to determine what word or even a series of sentences should come next, based on patterns it has learnt from data fed to it.

Key Features of ChatGPT:

• Fluency in conversation,
• Unique ability to summarise or rewrite text,
• Creative abilities like storytelling, content ideation, and coding.
• Use with various tools to generate images, analyse data or assist in research.

Difference Between Generative AI And ChatGPT

'ChatGPT' and 'generative AI’ are often interchangeably used because they are from the same family but define different work aspects. Where, on one hand, ChatGPT represents one specialised application of the AI family, generative AI is a big term.

The Future of AI:

The future of AI in the upcoming years lies in a unique amalgamation of human creativity and machine intelligence. While generative AI is evolving rapidly, it can understand and generate images, text, audio, and video without any effort. ChatGPT is already acing the race of becoming a multimodal assistant, which is capable of processing images, text, and code. Some of the most popular advancements that will be witnessed by us are as follows:

• Advanced multimodal agents that will be able to read documents and data thus will generate visuals.
• Personalised AI assistants that will have the ability to remember user preferences and will work across all digital platforms.
• AI-human collaboration that will augment creativity in writing, design, and engineering.
• Ethical regulations to ensure transparency, consent, and data safety.

Conclusion

As future-ready individuals, we should be aware that both generative AI and ChatGPT are closely connected yet are distinct pillars of the AI revolution that we are going to witness quite soon. We at Sharda University are dedicated to making our students advance in the race of technology makers; thus, we teach here the core values of AI. While generative AI is the engine of creativity, ChatGPT is the driver that will allow us to harness the engine of development.

Read more: 10 Benefits of AI in Tech Learning Environments