Today we will look at browser extensions that can enhance the capabilities of ChatGPT in your browser. Chrome extensions are small software programs that run in the background of your Chrome and Edge browsers, adding layers of functionality to ChatGPT, no matter if you are using the free version or ChatGPT Pro.
We will look at three extensions that are specifically useful for languages teacher and three that are useful in any use of AI. All the extensions we'll discuss today, you can find for free on the Chrome Web Store.
Adding Extensions to Chrome Browser
To use these extensions, simply follow the link to the described extensions below then add it by clicking the 'Get' or the 'Add to Chrome' button. A pop-up will appear with details about the data and permissions the extension will need to function correctly. If you're comfortable with the permissions, click 'Add extension' and it will automatically download and install the extension for you.
You can see your newly added extension by clicking the puzzle icon near the top right corner of the browser. Some of the extensions also require you to create a free account on their website to work effectively in ChatGPT.
Remember, always be cautious when adding new extensions and ensure you trust them. They have access to your browser data and you need to allow them read your ChatGTP, so think carefully if you are happy with this.
I have also found that some extensions can add instability to ChatGPT, leading to more error messages or slower answers, especially if you try to combine different extensions, but you can easily switch them off or on. For that, click the puzzle icon in your browser, select "manage extensions" and then toggle them off. If you now re-load ChatGPT, the extension features should be gone until you switch it back on again. Simply toggling the eye icon next to the extension name does not have the same effect and will keep them active.
Adding the ability to speak to ChatGPT
I have been exploring two similar Chrome extensions that allow you to use your voice to input prompts and will automatically read out ChatGPT's answer in a range of languages.
Using text-to-speech and speech-to-text features with ChatGPT can be a game-changer for language learners. Text-to-speech acts as a personal pronunciation guide, letting students hear how new vocabulary and phrases sound in a conversation. It's like having a conversation with a native speaker who's always ready to help you improve.
Speech-to-text, on the other hand, gives students the chance to practice speaking without fear of judgment. They can speak freely, see their words transcribed immediately, and ask the chatbot for feedback. This creates a safe space for learners to practice and gain confidence in their speaking skills.
When you combine these features with ChatGPT's smart conversation abilities, you get an interactive language learning tool that's available around the clock. It makes practicing a new language more engaging, less stressful, and more effective. When recommending these to our students, however, we need to keep in mind that children under 18 are supposed to have parental permission to create a ChatGPT account.
Talkberry
Let's look at the first extension. Talkberry adds a speech button above your chat text field for easier communication. It features a wide range of voices in various languages and these voices sound relatively natural. The tool is good at comprehending spoken language (even my English with a German accent), and is quick at converting your words into text, and then reading out the generated response automatically. Importantly, it allows you to edit your response before sending it, which is especially useful if you mention people's names which might be misinterpreted in the transcription. As soon as you hit enter, you prompt is sent and but there can sometimes be a delay before it starts reading out the answer. If you wish to interrupt the voiceover at any point, you can easily do so by clicking the stop button. Moreover, it provides speed control, ranging from 0.5 to 1.5, to adjust the pace of speech according to your needs.
Talk to ChatGPT
The second extension, Talk-To-ChatGPT. also supports various voices and languages, but adds a movable tool box with the record and stop buttons. Although the default voices provided by this extension sound less natural compared to Talkberry, it offers compatibility with ElevenLabs, which is one of the leading companies when it comes to creating natural sounding voices. To link the two services, you will need to create a free Elevenlabs account and if you want to stick with the free account, there is a daily limit of 10.000 characters. You will also need to find your API-Key by clicking on your profile picture on the ElevenLabs website, then on "profile" where you can find your key. These extra steps are definitely worth the effort as it will greatly elevate the quality of the voice output.
Just like Talkberry, Talk-to-ChatGPT is capable of understanding speech effectively, and it too reads out responses automatically, however it is different in that it continually listens and sends messages automatically, which makes a conversation more natural but also means you can't make any changes if the AI misunderstands you. On the plus side, the speed control can be finetuned a bit more with speed increments of 0.1 compared to Talkberry's 0.5.
Overall I found Talkberry easier to use and with better voice quality, if you don't want to go through the process of setting up additional accounts. The time lag can however sometimes be annoying and it is worth restarting the chat, if possible, when that happens.
The Talkberry website itself is also worth checking out for language learners as it offers different role play scenarios and three kids-friendly AI character to chat to in 5 different languages. It has a build-in dictionary and give you translations and feedback as well as cue cards what to answer next.
Making edits visible in ChatGPT
The Chrome extension EditGPT, is a great way of correcting students' work and giving them an overview of their mistakes. It introduces an 'edit' button to your chat, similar to the "track changes" function in Microsoft Word. You can ask ChatGPT to proofread or improve a text and if you click the editing button, it highlights all the differences between the original user input and the edited version produced by ChatGPT. It shows any letters or words it has added in green and any characters that were deleted in red and crossed out.
You can then select single word, a phrase, or the entire text with your mouse to accept or reject the AI's changes. Students could either use this tool themselves to find mistakes in their writing or you as a teacher can take a screenshot of the chat and share it with your students as feedback on their writing. This can be a powerful visual aid for learners, allowing them to quickly see their mistakes and the corresponding corrections.
Give your AI superpowers
We will now have a look at some more extensions that add a lot of functionality to ChatGPT and making me hope that OpenAI will take them as inspiration for future standard features so that they are fully integrated into the product and run smoothly.
Maxai.me
One of these tools is maxai.me. This tool takes ChatGPT out of the OpenAi chat website and onto any other page that you visit, similar to Bing chat. Once Maxai is installed, its small toolbar will show up next to your cursor whenever you highlight text on a website (but not on the ChatGPT website itself), and offer a list of pre-set prompts, including "summarise", "key takeaways" and "reply to this". The system then presents the answer as a sidebar in your browser. Users can even create their own custom prompts and save them as a shortcut to the tool. For example, you could write the prompt "Create a worksheet which translates {the highlighted text} into French and asks 10 comprehension questions about it in English". Now you can highlight any news article or film review and create a worksheet with one click!
The extension supports a range of AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and Claude, but to use ChatGPT-4, the user must be logged in and have it open in a browser window for it to work. One downside is that the free version of maxai.me comes with a limit on the number of daily requests a user can make. To increase this limit, users have the option to upgrade to the pro version at a cost of $12 per month. I also found that it sometimes seemed to work slower than the normal chat so that it might be quicker to copy and paste the text into ChatGPT.
Superpower ChatGPT
The extension that really puts ChatGPT on steroids is Superpower ChatGPT.
This extension adds an extremely long list of extra features. One of the most useful ones for teachers is the ability to save all prompts used since installing the extension and allowing you to search and bookmark them, improving navigation through past queries. Users can also search community prompts by category, and learn from other users.
The extension also allows users to organise all their past chats into colour-coded folders which makes it a lot easier to find and continue chats about a certain topic. The Superpower extension introduces a 'Prompt Template' feature, which can be activated via the general tab in the settings page. After enabling this, when a new prompt is submitted with any word wrapped in {{ }} brackets, a new modal will ask to replace those words with desired values which allows quick customisation of pre-set prompts. For example, the prompt "Write me a text for a group of {{age}}-year-olds. The text should be {{length}} words long and about {{topic}}.", would make this pop-up window appear, where the specifics can be entered.
Similar to maxai.me, the extension comes with a list of shortcuts, such as "summarise" and "clarify". Users can add their own shortcuts to custom prompts they frequently use by typing "@" followed by their own shortcut, such as "@short" for a prompt that instructs "keep your answer short and concise and suitable for 10-year-olds."
Superpower ChatGPT also includes a dropdown menu of different tones, styles, and languages - including UK English, meaning that you can quickly adjust the output, even though there seems a bug at the moment, so you have to re-selct it after every prompt.
Another great feature is the automatic word and character count, which quickly gives you an idea about the length of your text and the extension also provides a counter showing the number of messages you had in the last three hours, ensuring users are aware of when they might run out of messages for ChatGPT-4, as these are currently limited to 50 every 3 hours.
The extension also allows users to copy and export text in several different formats, including markdown and code and the list of features doesn't even end here, but it probably goes to far to explore them all in detail here.
All these powers come with a few downsides. Firstly, installation of Superpower ChatGPT automatically signs users up to their newsletter, although they can unsubscribe at any time, and you get a few hints to donate to the creators, but at least the extension is completely free and unlimited, at least for now.
Secondly, on first installation, the extension might take some time to sync all your chats, especially if you have many open. It is worth closing as many as possible before synching, and the extension itself can help as it allows for mass deletion or exporting of chats by adding the ability to tick all the chats you want to get rid of.
The extension can also slow down or destabilise the system or cause more error messages, so that you sometimes might need to turn it off.
In summary, Superpower ChatGPT is a comprehensive extension that vastly enhances the capabilities of ChatGPT, providing an enriched and personalized user experience, but with potential speed trade-offs.
Botrush
Botrush is a fun little extension that allows the user to personalise the look of their GPT chat by changing the colours and fonts. It adds a toolbar to the right of you chat and offers some of features we have seen in the Superpowers extension like word count and exporting in different format. In this respect it is superior in my opinion, as Botrush allows to export as a word document, text, pdf or image, and I especially liked the option to only export the chatbot answers without the prompts, which gives lots of options for creating worksheets with ChatGPT.
Conclusion
As we have seen, Chrome extension as an easy way of getting the most of ChatGPT and saving time on input. On the other hand, users should be cautious about granting permissions and consider potential issues with stability and speed. As AI continues to evolve, it is expected that we will see even more innovative extensions that can further transform our interactions with ChatGPT. Ultimately, these extensions offer a glimpse into the future, where the integration of AI into our daily browsing experience becomes increasingly seamless and intuitive.
Comments