Fake ChatGPT apps become popular on Google, Apple stores; here’s what to keep in mind

Some of these fake apps have even garnered fake positive reviews and are getting ranked among the most popular apps

Hyderabad: The new AI-powered chatbot ‘ChatGPT’, which was launched in November last year has been quickly growing popular for its ability to generate incredibly convincing human-like responses to people’s queries.

However, some developers are trying to cash in on the hype of the chatbot and creating fake versions of the app both on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, defrauding people by charging for an otherwise free product.

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Some of these fake apps have even garnered fake positive reviews and are getting ranked among the most popular apps.

For instance, before it was removed from the App Store, an app called ‘Chat GPT AI with GPT-3’ had managed to garner thousands of downloads and positive reviews. The app reportedly charged a fee of up to $49.99 for ad-free usage, so its developer seemed to have made some money for the short duration during which it was up.

Meanwhile, searching ‘ChatGPT’ on Google Play returns a slew of applications with that keyword in their names, each vying for the top ranking.

There are a bunch of "ChatGPT" apps in the appstore.

One is "ChatGPT Chat GPT AI With GPT-3" (🤔), a fake ChatGPT (doesn't follow context, many mistakes) and probably build off GPT3 or even a simpler LLM.

Currently brings more than $30K/day pic.twitter.com/Kl6b0nrPal

— Andrey Zagoruiko (@andreyzagoruiko) January 6, 2023

Meanwhile on Google Play…fake chatGPT 1star app with >100k downloads. pic.twitter.com/5fj5SEITwp

— nisten (@nisten) January 6, 2023

Here’s what you should remember:

It is to be noted that ‘ChatGPT’ is free to use for anyone on the web and OpenAI hasn’t released any official mobile app.

At the moment, there is no official API (Application Programming Interface) for chatbot so technically it’s impossible for an app to be based on the chatbot. The only official interface for ChatGPT currently is the website which you can access by heading over to chat.openai.com.

One can never be sure of what these fake apps might have in store — it could be for money through ads, or to steal your data. So, if you spot a fake ‘ChatGPT’ app on Google Play or an Apple App Store, it is advisable to report the app immediately.

For Google Play store, head to its listing page, tap on the three-dot menu in the top-right, then tap “Flag as inappropriate”. Choose “Copycat or impersonation” to report the app.

On the Apple App Store, scroll down to “Report a problem”, on its listing page, and then tap “Report a scam or fraud”.