Typically, an essay has five paragraphs: an introduction, a conclusion, and three body paragraphs. However, there is no set rule about the number of paragraphs in an essay.
The number of paragraphs can vary depending on the type and scope of your essay. An expository or argumentative essay may require more body paragraphs to include all the necessary information, whereas a narrative essay may need fewer.
To enhance the coherence and readability of your essay, it’s important to follow certain rules regarding the structure. Take a look:
1. Arrange your information from the most simple to the most complex bits. You can start the body paragraph off with a general statement and then move on to specifics.
2. Provide the necessary background information at the beginning of your essay to give the reader the context behind your thesis statement.
3. Select topic statements that provide value, more information, or evidence for your thesis statement.
There are also various essay structures , such as the compare and contrast structure, chronological structure, problem method solution structure, and signposting structure that you can follow to create an organized and impactful essay.
An impactful, well-structured essay comes down to three important parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion.
1. The introduction sets the stage for your essay and is typically a paragraph long. It should grab the reader’s attention and give them a clear idea of what your essay will be about.
2. The body is where you dive deeper into your topic and present your arguments and evidence. It usually consists of two paragraphs, but this can vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing.
3. The conclusion brings your essay to a close and is typically one paragraph long. It should summarize the main points of the essay and leave the reader with something to think about.
The length of your paragraphs can vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing. So, make sure you take the time to plan out your essay structure so each section flows smoothly into the next.
When it comes to writing an essay, the introduction is a critical component that sets the tone for the entire piece. A well-crafted introduction not only grabs the reader’s attention but also provides them with a clear understanding of what the essay is all about. An essay editor can help you achieve this, but it’s best to know the brief yourself!
Let’s take a look at how to write an attractive and informative introductory paragraph.
1. Construct an attractive hook
To grab the reader’s attention, an opening statement or hook is crucial. This can be achieved by incorporating a surprising statistic, a shocking fact, or an interesting anecdote into the beginning of your piece.
For example, if you’re writing an essay about water conservation you can begin your essay with, “Clean drinking water, a fundamental human need, remains out of reach for more than one billion people worldwide. It deprives them of a basic human right and jeopardizes their health and wellbeing.”
2. Provide sufficient context or background information
An effective introduction should begin with a brief description or background of your topic. This will help provide context and set the stage for your discussion.
For example, if you’re writing an essay about climate change, you start by describing the current state of the planet and the impact that human activity is having on it.
3. Construct a well-rounded and comprehensive thesis statement
A good introduction should also include the main message or thesis statement of your essay. This is the central argument that you’ll be making throughout the piece. It should be clear, concise, and ideally placed toward the end of the introduction.
By including these elements in your introduction, you’ll be setting yourself up for success in the rest of your essay.
Let’s take a look at an example.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane in 1903 revolutionized the way humans travel and explore the world. Prior to this invention, transportation relied on trains, boats, and cars, which limited the distance and speed of travel. However, the airplane made air travel a reality, allowing people to reach far-off destinations in mere hours. This breakthrough paved the way for modern-day air travel, transforming the world into a smaller, more connected place. In this essay, we will explore the impact of the Wright Brothers’ invention on modern-day travel, including the growth of the aviation industry, increased accessibility of air travel to the general public, and the economic and cultural benefits of air travel.
You can persuade your readers and make your thesis statement compelling by providing evidence, examples, and logical reasoning. To write a fool-proof and authoritative essay, you need to provide multiple well-structured, substantial arguments.
Let’s take a look at how this can be done:
1. Write a topic sentence for each paragraph
The beginning of each of your body paragraphs should contain the main arguments that you’d like to address. They should provide ground for your thesis statement and make it well-rounded. You can arrange these arguments in several formats depending on the type of essay you’re writing.
2. Provide the supporting information
The next point of your body paragraph should provide supporting information to back up your main argument. Depending on the type of essay, you can elaborate on your main argument with the help of relevant statistics, key information, examples, or even personal anecdotes.
3. Analyze the supporting information
After providing relevant details and supporting information, it is important to analyze it and link it back to your main argument.
End one body paragraph with a smooth transition to the next. There are many ways in which this can be done, but the most common way is to give a gist of your main argument along with the supporting information with transitory words such as “however” “in addition to” “therefore”.
Here’s an example of a body paragraph.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane revolutionized air travel. They achieved the first-ever successful powered flight with the Wright Flyer in 1903, after years of conducting experiments and studying flight principles. Despite their first flight lasting only 12 seconds, it was a significant milestone that paved the way for modern aviation. The Wright Brothers’ success can be attributed to their systematic approach to problem-solving, which included numerous experiments with gliders, the development of a wind tunnel to test their designs, and meticulous analysis and recording of their results. Their dedication and ingenuity forever changed the way we travel, making modern aviation possible.
A powerful concluding statement separates a good essay from a brilliant one. To create a powerful conclusion, you need to start with a strong foundation.
Let’s take a look at how to construct an impactful concluding statement.
1. Restructure your thesis statement
To conclude your essay effectively, don’t just restate your thesis statement. Instead, use what you’ve learned throughout your essay and modify your thesis statement accordingly. This will help you create a conclusion that ties together all of the arguments you’ve presented.
2. Summarize the main points of your essay
The next point of your conclusion consists of a summary of the main arguments of your essay. It is crucial to effectively summarize the gist of your essay into one, well-structured paragraph.
3. Create a lasting impression with your concluding statement
Conclude your essay by including a key takeaway, or a powerful statement that creates a lasting impression on the reader. This can include the broader implications or consequences of your essay topic.
Here’s an example of a concluding paragraph.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane forever changed history by paving the way for modern aviation and countless aerospace advancements. Their persistence, innovation, and dedication to problem-solving led to the first successful powered flight in 1903, sparking a revolution in transportation that transformed the world. Today, air travel remains an integral part of our globalized society, highlighting the undeniable impact of the Wright Brothers’ contribution to human civilization.
Most essays are derived from the combination or variation of these four main types of essays . let’s take a closer look at these types.
1. Narrative essay
A narrative essay is a type of writing that involves telling a story, often based on personal experiences. It is a form of creative nonfiction that allows you to use storytelling techniques to convey a message or a theme.
2. Descriptive essay
A descriptive essay aims to provide an immersive experience for the reader by using sensory descriptors. Unlike a narrative essay, which tells a story, a descriptive essay has a narrower scope and focuses on one particular aspect of a story.
3. Argumentative essays
An argumentative essay is a type of essay that aims to persuade the reader to adopt a particular stance based on factual evidence and is one of the most common forms of college essays.
4. Expository essays
An expository essay is a common format used in school and college exams to assess your understanding of a specific topic. The purpose of an expository essay is to present and explore a topic thoroughly without taking any particular stance or expressing personal opinions.
While this article demonstrates what is an essay and describes its types, you may also have other doubts. As experts who provide essay editing and proofreading services , we’re here to help.
Our team has created a list of resources to clarify any doubts about writing essays. Keep reading to write engaging and well-organized essays!
What is the difference between an argumentative and an expository essay, what is the difference between a narrative and a descriptive essay, what is an essay format, what is the meaning of essay, what is the purpose of writing an essay.
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Before beginning to write essays, essay planning can act as a useful exercise. Essay planning refers to the planning of essays before you actually write them. This is mainly done so that you can hone your ideas and think more deeply about the kinds of questions you will be asked in your exams. In any exam, it’s important to make a quick (5-7 minute) plan before you write the piece, so you can organise your ideas and structure your paragraph correctly. Outside of timed conditions, when you’re practising essays, you want to practise writing extended plans where you explore your thoughts on the question in detail.
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This is the peace plan for israel and palestine that could work.
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Israeli newspapers recently reported that the country’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the former Palestinian Minister for Foreign Affairs Nasser Al-Kidwa “agreed to work together to promote the achievement of peace between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and peace in the Middle East in general.”
International media has largely ignored this potentially significant development. Polls indicate that Israelis increasingly oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the hostage crisis and his failure to “crush Hamas.” Meanwhile, Gazans are also growing wary and even angry with Hamas. As the war fever subsides among majorities on both sides, two trajectories are emerging: one defined by violent extremism seeking victory and vengeance and the other driven by a desire for peace by pursuing compromise and coexistence.
Olmert and Al-Kidwa are plausible peacemakers; the fact that they are joining forces for peace deserves the world’s attention.
Since neither Olmert nor Al-Kidwa holds office in their respective states, they are unable to represent the will of the Israeli or Palestinian people. At a minimum, however, the two former leaders coming together so publicly and so concretely could offer a peaceful alternative to the genocidal rejectionism of the Israeli state and Israeli settlers as well as to the violent extremism of Hamas and other Palestinian militants.
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The importance and impact of the two former leaders’ vision for the future will be determined by the extent it can be accepted by most Israelis and Palestinians. Here is Olmert and AI-Kidwa’s proposal for peace:
Two States and a Shared Capital
The first and oldest element of the peace plan relates to the vision of “a State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel on the basis of 1967 borders living in peace and security.” This is an end goal envisioned in successive resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and UN Security Council as well as by the International Court of Justice. It has been explicitly and consistently accepted by the Palestinian Authority as well as implicitly and more recently by Hamas. It is consistently rejected by the Israeli regime and, more recently, overwhelmingly rejected by the Israeli Knesset .
According to the vision of Olmert and Al-Kidwa, the greater City of Jerusalem would be divided into Israeli and Palestinian parts along the lines of the 1967 status quo ante (subject to the land swaps mentioned below). Neither state would have exclusive political sovereignty over the city, and both states would have their capitals located in greater Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem would be administered by a trusteeship of five states, including Israel and Palestine as well as Jordan, given its special historic role.
Their recommendations resurrect a territorial proposal previously presented by Olmert during his tenure as prime minister, including swapping 4.4 percent of the total territory of the West Bank for territory of equal size from Israel — the latter including the long-promised corridor linking the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The 4.4 percent to be annexed by Israel includes Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Israeli settlements that are illegal under international law as recently confirmed by the International Court of Justice.
A Much-Overdue Ceasefire
A second, relatively new element of the proposal relies on a three-phase ceasefire plan introduced by United States President Joe Biden in his so-far failed attempt to end the violence in Gaza — a David and Goliath scenario arising from one nightmarish day and its aftermath for Israelis and 57 years of occupation and nearly a year of hell for Palestinians. In June, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2735 , welcoming the so-called Biden ceasefire plan and urging Israel and Hamas to implement it immediately. Neither party has done so.
The first phase of the ceasefire plan provides, inter alia, for the gradual release of most of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza as well as the release of an agreed number of Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons; and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the “populated areas of Gaza.” Phase 2 relies on the success of negotiations for a permanent end to hostilities in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in Gaza and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Phase 3 marks the start of a major multiyear reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the remains of any deceased Israeli hostages to their families.
Resolution 2735 explicitly states that Israel has accepted the ceasefire plan, when in fact Israel had not accepted the plan. Since then, Prime Minister Netanyahu has confirmed his intention to resume bombing at the end of Phase 1 –notwithstanding the Security Council’s clear, unequivocal mention that “if the negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one — the ceasefire will continue as long as negotiations continue.”
Moreover, the US and the Security Council “rejected any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the Strip’s territory.” Statements by Netanyahu confirm his government’s intention to hold onto large swaths of Palestinian territory in Gaza and to exploit the gas and oil recently discovered off the coast of Gaza which under international law belong to the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, Hamas purports to agree and then seeks clarifications and guarantees regarding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the impact on the transition between Phases 1 and 2 if a permanent ceasefire is not agreed upon within the six weeks of the first phase.
Palestinian Commissioners and Arab Peacekeepers
One of the newest elements of Olmert and Al-Kidwa’s plan is the proposal for a Council of Commissioners, consisting of professional Palestinian technocrats organically linked to the Palestinian Authority to shepherd the transition in Gaza and to oversee general elections within two to three years. Immediate elections may play into the hands of extremists and rejectionists in Israel or in Palestine. The incremental approach allows time for life to be restored and civilian infrastructure to be rebuilt before elections are held: restored and rebuilt with the support of wealthy nations and the convening power of an international donors’ conference.
Olmert and Al-Kidwa also agreed on the need to deploy a Temporary Arab Security Presence (TASP) coordinated with the withdrawal of Israeli forces. As envisioned, the TASP would be mandated to prevent attacks against Israel from Gaza and to assist a Palestinian security force to be established by the Palestinian Council of Commissioners to stabilize the Gaza Strip.
With more than 45,000 Palestinians killed in the last 11 months, of which more than 70 percent have been women and children, it is disturbing that Olmert and Al-Kidwa do not make an explicit reference to the role of the TASP in protecting the civilian population of Gaza. In calling for an otherwise nonmilitarized state, Olmert and Al-Kidwa fail to accord the State of Palestine the sovereign authority it needs to defend itself or the Palestinian people against the array of threats it faces from the Israeli state, Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers.
The proposal falls short in two other respects. It fails to address one of the most critical rights and tragic realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. While past peace plans have considered setting limits on the exercise of the right of return, they recognized it as a matter of customary international law, a right that has been denied repeatedly to Palestinians since the Nakba in 1948.
The proposal also neglects to call for criminal accountability for all those responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity on the Israeli side and for all those responsible for war crimes and terrorist crimes on the Palestinian side.
Nonetheless, one should not underestimate the courage of these two men. Olmert could face death threats from Zionist zealots who oppose the return of any land to the Palestinians, especially any part of Jerusalem. Al-Kidwa may face a similar fate for accepting illegal Israeli settlements to remain not only in the West Bank but in East Jerusalem itself. This is a particular historical irony not only because Al-Kidwa led the first request for an advisory opinion from the world court but also because the court has recently called for the immediate dismantlement and evacuation of those very settlements.
Olmert and Al-Kidwa offer the world hope that peacemakers dwell among the warmongers. They offer a peace that may succeed in ending the violence but is not likely to succeed in ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mona Ali Khalil is an internationally recognized public international lawyer with 30 years of UN and other experience, including as a former senior legal officer in the UN and the IAEA, with expertise in peacekeeping, peace enforcement, disarmament and counterterrorism. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in international relations from Harvard University and a master’s in foreign service and a J.D. from Georgetown University. She is the founder and director of MAK LAW INTERNATIONAL and an affiliate of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict. She has co-authored several publications, including the UN Security Council Conflict Management Handbook ; Reinvigorating the United Nations ; Protection of Civilians and the upcoming Empowering the UN Security Council: Reforms to Address Modern Threats.
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PHOENIX — September marks the beginning of college savings month in Arizona. Arizona’s state treasurer Kimberly Yee is kicking it off with an essay competition asking students to write about their dream jobs.
Twenty winners from all across Arizona will get $529 for their AZ529 account.
At the Boys and Girls Club of the Valley, there are a lot of kids with big dreams.
“I want to be a volleyball coach and a teacher of either math or ELA," sixth grader Bellamar Scott-Ramos said.
“I want to be a soccer player and a lawyer. Because I’m good at arguing," Charles Strand-Flores said.
To achieve those goals, these fifth and sixth graders want to pursue a college degree.
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Treasurer Yee is telling them about the essay contest they can submit to so they can get a jump start.
“It’s a very short paragraph you need to write about what you want to be when you grow up," Yee said. "That will give you a chance to submit it and give you a chance to win $529 for your future education.”
Yee is trying to reach as many kids and parents as possible, heading across the state again to promote the contest and the savings plan.
“We have seen so much growth in this program. In just 46 months, we have seen 44,500 new families sign up for an education savings plan," Yee said.
Strand-Flores says he plans to take what he learned today and start saving.
“If you save, you have it when you need it. And when you have a lot, you can give it to other people.”
Yee adds if your child eventually decides college isn’t for them, the saved money can be spent on other types of education like vocational schools, trade programs, and workforce development.
The essay contest runs through October 6 and submissions can be made online. Learn more here.
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Plain woven khadi cloth, c 1867. Courtesy the V&A Museum, London
For indians to be truly free, gandhi argued they must take up traditional crafts. was it a quixotic hope or inspired solution.
by Benjamin Studebaker + BIO
Political theorists often argue that citizens need to have certain capabilities for their political projects to be successful. Ancient and medieval political theorists, like Plato or Aquinas, often demand that people receive advanced spiritual and civic education as a prerequisite for participating in rule. This training is intricate. It takes time, and it can be expensive. Pre-industrial economic systems do not generate a very big surplus. In highly stratified ancient republics, citizenship was often reserved for the rich and powerful.
Modern liberals, like Adam Smith or Benjamin Constant, tend to take a different approach – they argue that most people already have the qualities that are necessary for citizenship. If they don’t have them, they can gain them by participating in markets and in civil society organisations, without need for careful planning. It helps that modern liberals envision a more limited role for their citizens – they need enough civic education to be able to vote for representatives, but they are not expected to make important everyday political decisions.
Gandhi was a different sort of thinker. He wanted ordinary people to make difficult moral and political judgments themselves. Instead of lowering the bar for citizenship or excluding the poor and the weak from citizenship, Gandhi argues that it is possible to dramatically improve the capabilities of ordinary people.
Gandhi spinning yarn in the late 1940s. Photo Wikipedia
To do this, he called for the reconstruction of the varna system, in which young people adopt the professions of their parents. In its original form, the system consists of four varnas. There are the Brahmins, who serve as scholars, priests or teachers. There are the Kshatriyas, who serve as rulers, administrators or warriors. There are the Vaishyas, who serve as farmers or merchants. Finally, there are the Shudras, who serve as artisans, labourers or servants. The members of all four varnas are householders, in the sense that it is permissible for people occupying any of the four varnas to produce children. One’s varna is determined by one’s parents’ varna.
T he varnas are often ranked so that the Brahmins enjoy the highest status, followed by the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas and the Shudras. But Gandhi rejected ranking the varnas in this way. For him, the varna system becomes a caste system when the varnas become hierarchical status markers. In his view, all four varnas are meant to be equal, and people in all four varnas are meant to be able to engage in spiritual development – not just the Brahmins.
There are some Indians outside the varna system. The Dalits – or untouchables – are considered to be without a varna. For Gandhi, the category of Dalit is itself an offence against the varna system, insofar as it is a category that presupposes a hierarchical ranking and excludes some people from spiritual realisation. There are also some Indians who are not householders, but have instead committed themselves to ascetic lifestyles. After some number of lifetimes at the householder level, a Hindu practitioner is said to advance into a new ashrama or stage of life. While Brahmins serve as spiritual teachers, they remain householders, and so have not yet transitioned to asceticism. A person who wishes to become an ascetic must not have any dependents. This does not necessarily mean that the ascetic can never have had a spouse or children, provided that when the ascetic embraces asceticism, appropriate provisions have been made. Once asceticism is embraced, commitments to celibacy and childlessness necessarily follow, lest any new dependents be acquired. Taken together, the whole varna system is called varnashrama , referring together both to the four kinds of householders and the four stages of life.
He believed the system could and should raise everyone to the same level of spiritual and political education
Why would Gandhi wish to revive this system, a system that – by his own admission – develops very easily in an undemocratic direction, into a system of hierarchical caste ? When childhood is about preparing to compete in the job market and adulthood is consumed with worry about money, there’s no time for spiritual growth. But if children learn how to make a living at home, from their parents, Gandhi argues, they ‘need not even go to a school to learn it’. This leaves the mind ‘free for spiritual pursuits’. It allows the education system to focus on character development, on art and philosophy. By freeing Indians from the need to find their own way to earn a living, Gandhi hoped to give them the time necessary to become great souls.
Gandhi’s envisioned reform of the varna system faced obstacles. For one, the varna system and the caste system are often confused, even by Indians. Many people think that some professions are higher status than others. If profession is hereditary and different professions become associated with different levels of social status, this can result in a system of status hierarchy, in which some families occupy higher positions and others are subordinated. For Gandhi, caste hierarchy was a corruption of the varna system. Gandhi was a committed egalitarian – he believed the system could and should be used to raise everyone to the same level of spiritual and political education. However, caste perverted varna in the opposite direction, creating rigid, impenetrable social and political barriers between families.
T he varna system was plagued by caste hierarchy, but that was just the beginning of its problems. By the early 20th century, many of the traditional professions were no longer performed. Gandhi, for instance, had given up the profession of his parents to become a lawyer. When he made the decision to go to England for a legal education, he was kicked out of Sabarmati Ashram. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, was born a Brahmin. But Nehru took no interest in reading spiritual works. Instead, he went to law school.
Gandhi became convinced that it was a great evil for Indians to abandon the hereditary professions. Indians must not go to law school. If they do, this would give rise to a class of trained professionals, a group of bureaucrats, who would dominate India. These bureaucrats would run India the same way the British had run India, and under them ordinary Indians would remain incapable of participating in political decision-making.
In 1915, when Gandhi returned to India from South Africa, he argued that Indians who had adopted the Western professions – like law, medicine and engineering – should give them up. They should instead take up traditional Indian crafts. Gandhi himself gave up the law and took up the spinning wheel, making khadi – a kind of traditional Indian cloth. In the caste system, the manual crafts occupied the lowest position. High-caste Indians were prohibited from engaging in manual work on pain of expulsion from their caste. By encouraging Indians to take up the manual crafts, Gandhi subverted the caste system. But he also hoped to lay the groundwork for recovering varna.
If all Indians could learn the traditional crafts – and if all Indians consistently refrained from purchasing industrially produced goods – the crafts would ensure the livelihoods of all Indians. Future generations could simply learn the traditional crafts at home, from their parents, allowing them to pursue spiritual growth and participate directly in politics.
The manual crafts weren’t just a protest against the British but key to universal self-realisation in India
So, at first, the schools would need to teach the crafts – to ensure they were known to everyone, and to violate caste prohibitions on manual labour. But once the crafts were widely known and the caste prohibitions were no more, the crafts could be learned at home, and the schools could be turned to their true purpose – preparing young people to rule themselves. Gandhi called this self-rule ‘swaraj’.
Why the emphasis on crafts? For Gandhi, only the traditional crafts were universally available to Indians, even under British rule. Training Indians as farmers would not work as long as ownership of farmland remained concentrated. Indian farmworkers would be made to work long hours as agricultural labourers unless and until the land could be redistributed, and that could happen only after the departure of the British. Gandhi believed it was necessary to prepare for swaraj immediately, and the crafts presented themselves with practical and political appeal.
It would be possible to revive the crafts only if Indians made a point to exclusively purchase products made by traditional methods. For the crafts to survive in the long term, Indians would have to continue the anticolonial protest against manufactured goods even after independence. For Gandhi, the manual crafts weren’t just a protest against the British – they remained central to producing conditions for universal self-realisation in India.
As the Second World War drew to a close, Gandhi grew concerned that Indian independence would come too early, before this was properly grasped by the other independence leaders. His friend Nehru disagreed with him about the traditional crafts. In a letter to Nehru, Gandhi argued that by performing a ‘quota’ of manual labour, the people could ‘rest content’ with their ‘real needs’, freeing them up for spiritual learning. Nehru countered that traditional villages were ‘backward intellectually and culturally’, and that an economy based on primitive technology would be isolated and uncompetitive.
Gandhi Day paraders in Delhi, July 1922. Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty
For Gandhi, Nehru had missed the point. As long as Indians could produce all the necessaries of life through the traditional crafts and they refrained from purchasing industrial goods, there was no need to make the economy competitive. What good is it to make the economy competitive, if that means that most people will have to spend all their time struggling to earn a living? What kind of life is that? How are people who live that way meant to find the time for politics and spirituality? Such a country would be riven with violence and exploitation. From Gandhi’s point of view, it would be hardly any different from British India.
After this exchange of letters in 1945, Gandhi became increasingly focused on preserving the traditional crafts, especially spinning cloth on the traditional spinning wheel. He emphasised the spinning wheel ever more heavily, so much so that, even to this day, the wheel lies at the centre of the Indian flag.
A fter the Second World War ended in 1945, independence was imminent. With very little time left to win the argument, Gandhi became suspicious of the other Indian independence leaders. In late 1945, Gandhi accused them of wanting ‘to destroy khadi’. In 1946, he emphasised that the introduction of the industrial spinning mill is so corrosive to his political project that if a ‘tyrant wants to destroy the spinning-wheel itself … we should ourselves perish with the spinning-wheel and not live to witness its destruction.’ He insists that spinning is the only way ‘to achieve swaraj for the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak’.
In Gandhi’s final years, he grew more and more focused on khadi. His writings in 1946 and 1947 refer to this cloth hundreds of times. He worries about uncertified khadi dealers, its commercialisation, the use of fabrics and materials to circumvent khadi rules. He argues that it is necessary to create a ‘yarn bank’ to ensure that khadi workers always have access to the materials. Spinning will work as a vehicle for swaraj only if the spinners understand the role it plays. He writes: ‘[I]f workers themselves lack faith then the claim for khadi will fall to the ground.’
The workers are to desist from adopting the mill because they know it is the thin end of the wedge, that to abandon the wheel for the mill is to start the process of colonialism all over again. If the workers do not understand that, then they will allow the wheel to be taken from them. Without the wheel, the varna system cannot be recovered, and any swaraj the workers obtain will be empty. In July 1946, a critic accuses Gandhi of forcing the villagers to spin. Gandhi replies that Indian villagers ‘gave up khadi because they were tempted by mill-cloth’. He compares mill-cloth to a poisonous drug, suggesting he is freeing the villagers from a kind of addiction. He denies that he is violating their rights – if mill-cloth is not available and the villagers do not make their own cloth, they ‘have the right to shiver in the cold and remain naked’.
Commit to this new education, and Gandhi was confident that ‘in five years India will be a leading country in Asia’
In July 1946, Gandhi writes that towns existed before the arrival of the British. Things were ‘bad enough then’ but now ‘they are much worse’ because the towns have become cities devoted to enriching both ‘Indian millionaires’ and ‘British masters’. Khadi is to ‘undo the great mischief’. That mischief is not just the British, but the spiritual situation that, for Gandhi, allowed the British to colonise India. This is a view Gandhi maintained throughout his life. In 1908, he argued that the British were able to establish themselves in India only because the Indians assisted them. He writes that ‘in order to become rich all at once’ the Indians welcomed the British ‘with open arms’.
In the autumn of 1946, Gandhi was still hoping that Nehru understood – or could be made to understand – the importance of khadi. Gandhi says: ‘We shall have full freedom only when our uncrowned king Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his colleagues in the Interim Government devote themselves to the service of the poor as people expect them to do.’ He quotes Nehru as having called khadi the ‘livery of our freedom’.
In May 1947, Gandhi pleads for government workers to ‘forget their quarrels and disputes over ideologies and start learning and teaching spinning, khadi work and village industries’. If they commit to this new kind of education, Gandhi expresses confidence that ‘in five years India will be a leading country in Asia’.
But, over the course of 1947, it became increasingly clear that Gandhi was not going to win the argument. In June, he bemoaned the situation, calling the other independence leaders ‘selfish’. In November, Gandhi writes that if the village industries are neglected in an independent India, ‘we will be acting like a man who remembers God in sorrow and forgets Him when He showers [us in] happiness.’ Later that month, he confesses that ‘talk of khadi and village industries does not interest people any more.’ ‘I know that khadi and all allied activities have slackened because we have achieved swaraj,’ Gandhi writes, ‘India will get what is ordained for her. What can we do?’
I n the days and weeks leading up to his death in January 1948, Gandhi began suggesting a new political system designed to empower the villages – the Panchayati Raj. Representative democracy could not be relied upon to integrate the economy and religion into a system that unites the need to survive with the need to spiritually thrive. But, before his alternative political system could be elaborated, much less implemented, Gandhi was assassinated. Just a few weeks earlier, in December 1947, Gandhi had lamented that ‘the main implication of khadi’ was not grasped by the independence movement. He said he had ‘no doubt’ that khadi is ‘more important than ever if we are to have freedom’ for ‘the masses of the villagers of India’. ‘Through khadi,’ Gandhi struggled ‘to establish supremacy of man’ over machine. He strove for equality of all men and women, and he strove ‘to attain subservience of capital under labour in place of the insolent triumph of capital over labour’.
So, Gandhi saw varna as the way to discipline capital so that it served life. But his vision for the role of the varna system was always quixotic. Indians, including Nehru, embraced economic modernisation. As Nehru put it, he felt there was ‘no reason’ why millions of Indians should not have ‘comfortable up-to-date homes where they can lead a cultured existence’. This was to be achieved with electricity, trade, modern transportation and heavy industry, not with a return to traditional village crafts. Gandhi left open the possibility that, if Indians felt it good and necessary, then they could add new professions beyond the traditional crafts. He recognised that political decision-making is difficult and requires capacities and specialties that are not easily cultivated in people. Even deeply religious people who are sincerely committed to the truth often disagree with one another, and for Gandhi this was baked into the human condition.
In 1930, Gandhi had written that, while all faiths ‘constitute a revelation of Truth’, they are all ‘imperfect and liable to error’. He suggested that this stems from the fact that, while ‘the soul is one’, the ‘bodies which she animates are many’. Since we cannot ‘reduce the number of bodies’, faith in the unity will ‘partake of human imperfection’. Embodied human beings will put their faith ‘into such language as they can command’, and their words are interpreted by other imperfect beings. Everyone will think themselves right, but ‘it is not impossible that everyone is wrong’. This produces a need for tolerance – not an ‘indifference towards one’s own faith’, but a ‘purer love for it’.
Gandhi tasks the poor with preventing the varna system from ossifying into one of caste
In the spirit of this view, Gandhi often described himself as one who ‘experiments’ with truth. Satyagraha , nonviolent civil resistance , rests on the idea that all of us, even those with spiritual education, can be mistaken. Other people should confront us in those situations – carefully, and nonviolently.
For Indians to have true swaraj, they must have the education necessary not merely to understand the reasoning behind Gandhi’s economic model, but to participate themselves in reforming that model based on their own understanding of truth. They must be able to think for themselves about whether all Indians should perform the manual crafts. They must be able to develop views about which professions are necessary and which are unnecessary. Gandhi’s desire to empower Indian citizens to rule themselves led him to allow India’s citizens freedom to work in additional professions, provided they practise them out of love rather than greed.
That proposal came with risks of its own. If one varna contains both those who depend exclusively on the traditional crafts and those who perform additional professions, this could lead to hierarchy within it. This is especially likely if those who perform additional professions are able to derive additional income from those professions. At points, Gandhi suggests that those who earn additional income from additional professions could serve as ‘trustees’, retaining some control over the wealth they gain from their additional professions, provided that they use this wealth to benefit others. This would leave some economic and political inequalities intact. Over time, it could lead to the reemergence of caste.
Gandhi ultimately tasks the poor with preventing the varna system from ossifying into one of caste. To perform this role, they must acquire the advanced civic education necessary to engage in satyagraha, and that in turn is possible only insofar as they are able to earn a living through the crafts. This was an enormous responsibility to place upon the shoulders of ordinary workers. The varna system can resist lapsing into a system of caste only when it is possible for the workers to consistently become spiritually learned and to remain spiritually learned across time. For Gandhi, it is only when the poor gain knowledge that they ‘become strong’ and ‘learn how to free themselves’. Nothing less will do, because the varna system is too fragile to maintain itself by lesser means.
Those who view Gandhi merely as a critic of violence, hierarchical caste and untouchability miss what is meant here by freedom and equality. This is about securing for every Indian the economic prerequisites for spiritual growth. For Gandhi, it is only in a world where everyone practices the crafts – and everyone can learn them at home from their parents – that there will be time enough for every person to develop their own spiritual praxis. In such a system, there is clearly observance of hereditary occupation, and therefore of varna.
Gandhi failed to establish this system, and no alternative system has arisen to perform the same function. The poor are still compelled to trade away their time in the struggle for survival, while the rich waste the time they take from the poor. But Gandhi tried to solve this problem, and many of us do not even try.
This piece contains excerpts from ‘The Varna System in Gandhi’s Theory of Civic Education’, first published in the journal Economic and Political Weekly in May 2024.
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Shira Ben-Sasson, a founder of the Hakhel synagogue in Jerusalem, lights a candle in memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Sept. 1, 2024. (Deborah Danan)
By Deborah Danan September 1, 2024
( JTA ) — JERUSALEM — Three hundred and thirty-two days after Hersh Goldberg-Polin danced in the courtyard next to his Jerusalem synagogue on the holiday of Simchat Torah, more than a thousand people gathered there in grief and prayer to mourn his murder by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
During the Sunday night vigil, the courtyard railings were lined with oversized yellow ribbons to symbolize advocacy for the hostages, Hapoel Jerusalem soccer flags — the 23-year-old’s favorite team — and posters that read, “We love you, stay strong, survive,” a mantra coined by his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin.
Just hours earlier, one of the posters had been hanging over the balcony of the home of Shira Ben-Sasson, a leader of Hakhel, the Goldberg-Polins’ egalitarian congregation in the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.
“We were sure we would take it down when he came home,” Ben Sasson said.
The community wanted to unite while respecting the Goldberg-Polins’ desire for privacy, she said, prompting them to organize the prayer gathering.
“But it’s like a Band-Aid or giving first aid, it’s what you do in an emergency. I don’t know how we go on after this,” she said.
She added that the community, which has a large contingent of English-speaking immigrants, was not prepared for the High Holidays, which begin in about a month. She said, “Seeing his empty seat is hard.”
For Ben-Sasson, who wore a T-shirt bearing the Talmudic dictum “There is no greater mitzvah than the redeeming of captives,” the tragedy is especially painful because, she said, it could have been avoided with a ceasefire agreement that freed hostages.
“Hersh was alive 48 hours ago. We think a deal could have saved him. There is no military solution to this,” she said.
That feeling of bereavement, often mixed with betrayal, pervaded gatherings across Israel on Sunday, as the country struggled with the news that six hostages who may have been freed in an agreement were now dead as negotiations continue to stall. Speakers at protests in Tel Aviv blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who himself apologized for not getting the hostages out alive but blamed Hamas for obstructing a deal. The country’s labor union, the Histadrut, has called a national strike on Monday to demand a deal.
Some at the Jerusalem gathering, including the relative of another former hostage, said Netanyahu had chosen defeating Hamas over freeing the captives.
Josef Avi Yair Engel, whose grandson Ofir was released from Hamas captivity in November during that month’s ceasefire deal, expressed shock over Hersh’s murder but said he was not surprised, given the wartime policies of Netanyahu’s government.
“We knew months ago this was going to happen. Bibi’s formula, to dismantle Hamas and return the hostages, wasn’t logical. It’s an either/or situation,” Engel said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. “He’s tearing the country apart. I’m afraid that in the coming months there won’t be a state at all.”
Engel said he felt a close bond with Hersh’s father Jon Polin, not only because of their joint activism in the hostage families’ tent outside the Prime Minister’s Residence, but also because of their shared identity as Jerusalemites.
“There aren’t many of us in the hostage circle,” he said. “We’re like family.”
Sarah Mann, who did not know the family personally, said the weekend’s tragedy reminded her of Oct. 7.
“This day has sparks of the seventh, which created numbness and an inability to talk. Just complete shock,” she said.
Part of the reason for that, Mann said, was Rachel, who she described as a “force of faith.” Goldberg-Polin’s mother emerged as the most prominent advocate for the hostages globally and became a symbol in her own right as she crisscrossed the world calling for her son’s freedom.
“Millions of people around the world held onto her. Once that was cut, people’s ability to hold onto faith was knocked out today. But even though this has shattered us, we need to keep holding onto God,” Mann said.
For Susi Döring Preston, the day called to mind was not Oct. 7 but Yom Kippur, and its communal solemnity.
She said she usually steers clear of similar war-related events because they are too overwhelming for her.
“Before I avoided stuff like this because I guess I still had hope. But now is the time to just give in to needing to be around people because you can’t hold your own self up any more,” she said, tears rolling down her face. “You need to feel the humanity and hang onto that.”
Like so many others, Döring Preston paid tribute to the Goldberg-Polins’ tireless activism. “They needed everyone else’s strength but we drew so much strength from them and their efforts, “she said. “You felt it could change the outcome. But war is more evil than good. I think that’s the crushing thing. You can do everything right, but the outcome is still devastating.”
Guy Gordon, a member of Hakhel who moved to Israel from Dublin, Ireland, in the mid-1990s, said the efforts towards ensuring Hersh’s safe return have been an anchor for the community during the war.
“It gave us something to hope for, and pray for and to demonstrate for,” he said. “We had no choice but to be unreasonably optimistic. Tragically it transpired that he survived until the very end.”
Gordon, like many others in the crowd, wore a piece of duct tape marked with the number of days since Oct. 7 — a gesture initiated by Goldberg-Polin’s mother. Unlike on previous days, though, his tape also featured a broken red heart beside the number.
Nadia Levene, a family friend, also reflected on the improbability of Hersh’s survival.
“He did exactly what his parents begged him to do. He was strong. He did survive. And look what happened,” Levene said.
She hailed Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s “unwavering strength and belief in God,” adding, “There were times I lost faith. I suppose I was angry with God. But she just kept inspiring us all to pray, pray, pray.”
Jerusalem resident Leah Silver rejected politicizing the hostages’ deaths.
“Everything turns political so quickly. I came here because I felt that before all the protests, we need to just mourn for a moment and to pray. And show respect for each other,” she said. “We’ve become confused about who the enemy is. It’s very sad.”
But not everyone at the gathering joined in to sing Israel’s national anthem at the closing of the prayer gathering.
“I’m sorry, I can’t sing ‘Hatikvah,’” Reza Green, a Baka resident who did not know the Goldberg-Polins personally, said. “I’m too angry. We shouldn’t be here.”
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ChatGPT is an AI chatbot with advanced natural language processing (NLP) that allows you to have human-like conversations to complete various tasks. The generative AI tool can answer questions and assist you with composing text, code, and much more.
Also : How to use ChatGPT
It's currently open to use for free . OpenAI launched a paid subscription version called ChatGPT Plus in February 2023, which guarantees users access to the company's latest models, exclusive features, and updates.
ChatGPT offers many functions in addition to answering simple questions. ChatGPT can compose essays , have philosophical conversations, do math, and even code for you .
The tasks ChatGPT can help with also don't have to be so ambitious. For example, my favorite use of ChatGPT is for help creating basic lists for chores, such as packing and grocery shopping, and to-do lists that make my daily life more productive. The possibilities are endless.
ZDNET has published many ChatGPT how-to guides. Below are some of the most popular ones.
Use ChatGPT to:
ChatGPT is free, regardless of what you use it for, including writing, coding, and much more.
There is a subscription option , ChatGPT Plus, that costs $20 per month. The paid subscription model gives you extra perks, such as priority access to GPT-4o , DALL-E 3 , and the latest upgrades.
Also: ChatGPT vs ChatGPT Plus: Is it worth the subscription fee?
Although the subscription price may seem steep, it is the same amount as Microsoft Copilot Pro and Google One AI Premium , which are Microsoft's and Google's paid AI offerings.
On April 1, 2024, OpenAI stopped requiring you to log in to ChatGPT. Now, you can access ChatGPT simply by visiting chat.openai.com . You can also access ChatGPT via an app on your iPhone or Android device.
Once you visit the site, you can start chatting away with ChatGPT. A great way to get started is by asking a question, similar to what you would do with Google. You can ask as many questions as you'd like.
Also: ChatGPT no longer requires a login, but you might want one anyway. Here's why
Creating an OpenAI account still offers some perks, such as saving and reviewing your chat history, accessing custom instructions, and, most importantly, getting free access to GPT-4o. Signing up is free and easy; you can use your existing Google login.
For step-by-step instructions, check out ZDNET's guide on how to start using ChatGPT .
Yes, an official ChatGPT app is available for iPhone and Android users. Make sure to download OpenAI's app, as many copycat fake apps are listed on Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store that are not affiliated with OpenAI.
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There's also a ChatGPT app for MacOS , which lets you access the chatbot quickly via a keyboard shortcut. The Mac app was initially only available for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, but OpenAI recently made it available to all users.
People have expressed concerns about AI chatbots replacing or atrophying human intelligence.
For example, chatbots can write an entire essay in seconds, raising concerns about students cheating and not learning how to write properly. These fears even led some school districts to block access when ChatGPT initially launched.
Now, not only have many of those schools decided to unblock the technology, but some higher education institutions have been catering their academic offerings to AI-related coursework.
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Another concern with AI chatbots is the possible spread of misinformation. ChatGPT says: "My responses are not intended to be taken as fact, and I always encourage people to verify any information they receive from me or any other source." OpenAI also notes that ChatGPT sometimes writes "plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers."
Lastly, there are ethical and privacy concerns regarding the information ChatGPT was trained on. OpenAI scraped the internet to train the chatbot without asking content owners for permission to use their content, which brings up many copyright and intellectual property concerns.
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There are also privacy concerns regarding generative AI companies using your data to fine-tune their models further, which has become a common practice. OpenAI lets you turn off training in ChatGPT's settings.
So, is ChatGPT safe? If your main concern is privacy, OpenAI has implemented several options to give users peace of mind that their data will not be used to train models. The company even allows you to turn off your chat history. If you are concerned about the moral and ethical problems, those are still being hotly debated.
Companies train generative AI models on user inputs. Therefore, when familiarizing yourself with how to use ChatGPT, you might wonder if your specific conversations will be used for training and, if so, who can view your chats.
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OpenAI will, by default, use your conversations with the free chatbot to train data and refine its models. You can opt out of it using your data for model training by clicking on the question mark in the bottom left-hand corner, Settings, and turning off "Improve the model for everyone."
Yes, ChatGPT is a great resource for helping with job applications. Undertaking a job search can be tedious and difficult, and ChatGPT can help you lighten the load. ChatGPT can build your resume and write a cover letter .
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If your application has any written supplements, you can use ChatGPT to help you write those essays or personal statements . You can also use ChatGPT to prep for your interviews by asking ChatGPT to provide you mock interview questions, background on the company, or questions that you can ask.
ChatGPT can be an excellent resource in assisting students with their work. A popular misconception is that ChatGPT and other AI resources will do students' work for them. However, it can be used as a personal tutor or editor, giving students assistance outside of the classroom.
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For example, a student can drop their essay into ChatGPT and have it copyedit it, upload class handwritten notes and have them digitized, or even generate study outlines from class materials.
The last three letters in ChatGPT's namesake stand for Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT), a family of large language models created by OpenAI that uses deep learning to generate human-like, conversational text.
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The "Chat" part of the name is simply a callout to its chatting capabilities.
Yes, ChatGPT can generate images using DALL-E 3. However, the limits vary depending on whether you are a ChatGPT Plus subscriber or a free user. ChatGPT Plus subscribers are allowed 50 generations per day, while free users are allotted two.
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Since OpenAI discontinued DALL-E 2 in February 2024, the only way to access its most advanced AI image generator, DALL-E 3, through OpenAI's offerings is via its chatbot.
Microsoft's Copilot offers free image generation, also powered by DALL-E 3, in its chatbot. This is a great alternative if you don't want to pay for ChatGPT Plus but want high-quality image outputs.
ChatGPT runs on a large language model (LLM) architecture created by OpenAI called the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT). Since its launch, the free version of ChatGPT ran on a fine-tuned model in the GPT-3.5 series until May 2024, when OpenAI upgraded the model to GPT-4o. Now, the free version runs on GPT-4o mini, with limited access to GPT-4o.
Also: How does ChatGPT actually work?
With a subscription to ChatGPT Plus , you can access GPT-4, GPT-4o mini or GPT-4o . Plus, users also have priority access to GPT-4o, even at capacity, while free users get booted down to GPT-4o mini.
Generative AI models of this type are trained on vast amounts of information from the internet, including websites, books, news articles, and more.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT on November 30, 2022. OpenAI has also developed DALL-E 2 and DALL-E 3 , popular AI image generators , and Whisper, an automatic speech recognition system.
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As a result, OpenAI owns ChatGPT. Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI thanks to multiyear, multi-billion dollar investments. Elon Musk was an investor when OpenAI was first founded in 2015 but has since completely severed ties with the startup and created his own AI chatbot, Grok .
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot created to converse with the end user. A search engine indexes web pages on the internet to help users find information. One is not better than the other, as each suit different purposes.
When searching for as much up-to-date, accurate information as possible, your best bet is a search engine. It will provide you with pages upon pages of sources you can peruse.
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As of May 2024, the free version of ChatGPT can get responses from both the GPT-4o model and the web. It will only pull its answer from, and ultimately list, a handful of sources instead of showing nearly endless search results.
For example, I used GPT-4o to ask, "What is the weather today in San Francisco?" In its response, ChatGPT told me that it searched four sites and provided links to them.
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If you are looking for a platform that can explain complex topics in an easy-to-understand manner, then ChatGPT might be what you want. If you want the best of both worlds, plenty of AI search engines combine both.
SearchGPT is an experimental offering from OpenAI that functions as an AI-powered search engine that is aware of current events and uses real-time information from the Internet. The experience is a prototype, and OpenAI plans to integrate the best features directly into ChatGPT in the future.
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Upon launching the prototype, users were given a waitlist to sign up for. However, shortly after, OpenAI closed its waitlist.
Despite its impressive capabilities, ChatGPT still has limitations. Users sometimes need to reword questions multiple times for ChatGPT to understand their intent. A bigger limitation is a lack of quality in responses, which can sometimes be plausible-sounding but are verbose or make no practical sense.
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Instead of asking for clarification on ambiguous questions, the model guesses what your question means, which can lead to poor responses. Generative AI models are also subject to hallucinations, which can result in inaccurate responses.
As mentioned above, ChatGPT, like all language models, has limitations and can give nonsensical answers and incorrect information, so it's important to double-check the answers it gives you.
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OpenAI recommends you provide feedback on what ChatGPT generates by using the thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons to improve its underlying model. You can also join the startup's Bug Bounty program , which offers up to $20,000 for reporting security bugs and safety issues.
AI systems like ChatGPT can and do reject inappropriate requests . The AI assistant can identify inappropriate submissions to prevent unsafe content generation.
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These submissions include questions that violate someone's rights, are offensive, are discriminatory, or involve illegal activities. The ChatGPT model can also challenge incorrect premises, answer follow-up questions, and even admit mistakes when you point them out.
These guardrails are important. AI models can generate advanced, realistic content that can be exploited by bad actors for harm, such as spreading misinformation about public figures and influencing elections .
Yes, sort of. OpenAI scraped the internet to train ChatGPT's models. Therefore, the technology's knowledge is influenced by other people's work. Since there is no guarantee that ChatGPT's outputs are entirely original, the chatbot may regurgitate someone else's work in your answer, which is considered plagiarism.
Also, technically speaking, if you, as a user, copy and paste ChatGPT's response, that is an act of plagiarism because you are claiming someone else's work as your own. This act could have repercussions.
In short, the answer is no, not because people haven't tried, but because none do it efficiently.
In January 2023, OpenAI released a free tool to detect AI-generated text. Unfortunately, OpenAI's classifier tool could only correctly identify 26% of AI-written text with a "likely AI-written" designation. Furthermore, it provided false positives 9% of the time, incorrectly identifying human-written work as AI-produced.
Also: I tested 7 AI content detectors - they're getting dramatically better at identifying plagiarism
The tool performed so poorly that, six months after its release, OpenAI shut it down "due to its low rate of accuracy." Despite the tool's failure, the startup claims to be researching more effective techniques for AI text identification.
Other AI detectors exist on the market, including GPT-2 Output Detector , Writer AI Content Detector , and Content at Scale's AI Content Detection tool. ZDNET tested these tools, and the results were underwhelming: all three were unreliable sources for spotting AI, repeatedly giving false negatives. Here are ZDNET's full test results .
GPT-4 is OpenAI's language model, much more advanced than its predecessor, GPT-3.5. GPT-4 outperforms GPT-3.5 in a series of simulated benchmark exams and produces fewer hallucinations.
GPT-4o is OpenAI's latest, fastest, and most advanced flagship model. As the name implies, GPT-4o has the same intelligence as GPT-4. However, the "o" in the title stands for "omni", referring to its multimodal capabilities, which allow the model to understand text, audio, image, and video inputs and output text, audio, and image outputs.
Also: 6 ways OpenAI just supercharged ChatGPT for free users
The model is 50% cheaper in OpenAI's API than GPT-4 Turbo while still matching its English and coding capabilities and outperforming it in non-English language, vision, and audio understanding -- a big win for developers.
Although ChatGPT gets the most buzz, other options are just as good—and might even be better suited to your needs. ZDNET has created a list of the best chatbots , all of which we have tested to identify the best tool for your requirements.
Also: 4 things Claude AI can do that ChatGPT can't
Despite ChatGPT's extensive abilities, other chatbots have advantages that might be better suited for your use case, including Copilot , Claude , Perplexity , Jasper , and more.
OpenAI once offered plugins for ChatGPT to connect to third-party applications and access real-time information on the web. The plugins expanded ChatGPT's abilities , allowing it to assist with many more activities, such as planning a trip or finding a place to eat.
Also: My two favorite ChatGPT Plus features and the remarkable things I can do with them
However, on March 19, 2024, OpenAI stopped letting users install new plugins or start new conversations with existing ones. Instead, OpenAI replaced plugins with GPTs , which are easier for developers to build.
With the latest update, all users, including those on the free plan, can access the GPT Store and find 3 million customized ChatGPT chatbots. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of spam in the GPT store, so be careful which ones you use.
Microsoft was an early investor in OpenAI, the AI startup behind ChatGPT, long before ChatGPT was released to the public. Microsoft's first involvement with OpenAI was in 2019 when the company invested $1 billion. The company invested another $2 billion in the years after. In January 2023, Microsoft extended its partnership with OpenAI through a multiyear, multi-billion dollar investment .
Also: ChatGPT vs. Copilot: Which AI chatbot is better for you?
Neither company disclosed the investment value, but unnamed sources told Bloomberg that it could total $10 billion over multiple years. In return, OpenAI's exclusive cloud-computing provider is Microsoft Azure, powering all OpenAI workloads across research, products, and API services.
Microsoft has also used its OpenAI partnership to revamp its Bing search engine and improve its browser. On February 7, 2023, Microsoft unveiled a new Bing tool , now known as Copilot, that runs on OpenAI's GPT-4, customized specifically for search.
Copilot uses OpenAI's GPT-4, which means that since its launch, it has been more efficient and capable than the standard, free version of ChatGPT, which was powered by GPT 3.5 at the time. At the time, Copilot boasted several other features over ChatGPT, such as access to the internet, knowledge of current information, and footnotes.
Also: I was a Copilot diehard until ChatGPT added these 5 features
In May 2024, however, OpenAI supercharged the free version of its chatbot with GPT-4o. The upgrade gave users GPT-4 level intelligence, the ability to get responses from the web, analyze data, chat about photos and documents, use GPTs, and access the GPT Store and Voice Mode. After the upgrade, ChatGPT reclaimed its crown as the best AI chatbot.
Gemini is Google's AI chat service, a rival to ChatGPT. On February 6, 2023, Google introduced its experimental AI chat service, which was then called Google Bard.
Also: ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the best AI chatbot?
Over a month after the announcement, Google began rolling out access to Bard first via a waitlist . Now, the tool is available to the public. The biggest perk of Gemini is that it has Google Search at its core and has the same feel as Google products. Therefore, if you are an avid Google user, Gemini might be the best AI chatbot for you.
At Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference in June 2024, the company announced a partnership with OpenAI that will integrate ChatGPT with Siri. With the user's permission, Siri can request ChatGPT for help if Siri deems a task is better suited for ChatGPT.
Chatgpt is (obviously) the most popular ai app - but the runners up may surprise you, my 5 favorite ai chatbot apps for android - see what you can do with them, how i test an ai chatbot's coding ability - and you can, too.
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Essay planning is an important step in academic essay writing. Proper planning helps you write your essay faster, and focus more on the exact question. As you draft and write your essay, record any changes on the plan as well as in the essay itself, so they develop side by side. One way to start planning an essay is with a 'box plan'.
Phew! That essay was tough. But with this essay plan, you can get through any essay and do a stellar job! Essay planning is a great way to ensure your essays make sense, have a clear and compelling argument, and don't go off-topic. I never write an essay without one. To sum up, here are the 7 steps to essay planning one more time: The 7-Step ...
An essay outline is a way of planning the structure of your essay before you start writing. It involves writing quick summary sentences or phrases for every point you will cover in each paragraph, giving you a picture of how your argument will unfold. You'll sometimes be asked to submit an essay outline as a separate assignment before you ...
The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...
An essay plan is a skeleton outline of your essay. It summarises what will be included in each paragraph and how the paragraphs will link together. It also states how many words will be used in each section, and the key references that'll be used. Check out the essay plan template below for more details.
Essay plans. An essay plan is a way to identify, select, and order the points you want to make in your essay. It helps you to work out your argument and your structure before writing, which should make the writing process more efficient and focussed. Sometimes essay plans are set as formative assignments so tutors can provide feedback before ...
Introduction. The introduction must be brief, without quotations, and will include your thesis statement, i.e. your response to the question; a brief outline of the methodology you intend to employ; and an overview of the works you intend to centre on. You should close with a 'hooking sentence' which links to the opening paragraph of the ...
Main Body - This is the main chunk of your essay. To plan this, break down your argument into paragraphs or sections, sticking to one main idea per paragraph. Once you've done this, note down how each point supports your argument, plus any quotes or examples you will use. Conclusion - A brief summary of your arguments and evidence.
Introduction: Address the question, show why it's interesting and how you will answer it. Main body: Build your argument. Put your groups of ideas in a sequence to make a persuasive argument. One main point in each paragraph. Conclusion: Summarise your arguments and evidence, and show how they answer the original question.
Harvard College Writing Center 2 Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt When you receive a paper assignment, your first step should be to read the assignment
Essay Planning: Understanding the Brief: Start by carefully reading the essay question to identify key themes, requirements, and expectations. Research: Gather relevant information from credible sources, taking notes on key points, evidence, and references. Creating an Outline: Organise your ideas into a clear structure. Typically, an essay ...
Essay writing process. The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay.. For example, if you've been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you'll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay, on the ...
In a 1000-1500 word essay, aim for three to four main points. In the initial plan, try to express the main idea of each point in a single, clear sentence. These can become topic sentences—usually the first sentence of each paragraph which summarise the information in the paragraph. In your second plan, you develop these points further.
Write the essay question out in full. Spend some time, at least half an hour, brainstorming the subject area. Write down your thoughts on the question subject, its scope and various aspects. List words or phrases that you think need to be included. Note the main points you should include to answer the question.
Outlining is a vital part of the essay planning process. It allows the writer to understand how he or she will connect all the information to support the thesis statement and the claims of the paper. It also provides the writer with a space to manipulate ideas easily without needing to write complete paragraphs.
Make a plan. Planning your essay makes it more likely that you have a coherent argument. It enables you to work out a logical structure and an endpoint for your argument before you start writing. It means you don't have to do this type of complex thinking at the same time as trying to find the right words to express your ideas.
7 steps to writing a good essay. No essay is the same but your approach to writing them can be. As well as some best practice tips, we have gathered our favourite advice from expert essay-writers and compiled the following 7-step guide to writing a good essay every time. 👍. #1 Make sure you understand the question. #2 Complete background ...
An essay outline is essentially an essay's skeleton. It's a text representation of an essay's thesis and key supporting points. An essay outline serves multiple purposes, including helping its writer organize their thoughts before they start writing, giving readers a quick synopsis of the essay, and acting as a roadmap for the writer to follow as they work through their supporting ...
Essay planning step 2: Brainstorming or freewriting. Once you know how many ideas you need, the next step is writing down what you know (and what you still have to find out). There are many ways that this can be achieved. You can either create a mind map, or just write out all your ideas on a piece of paper.
Step 3: Start essay plan. Next, I'd start tackling the plan itself. Although it seems like the above steps would take a while, my real-life planning process only takes about 5 minutes. You certainly don't have to write everything down and you certainly don't have to make it make sense to anyone but yourself.
An essay outline is your essay plan and a roadmap to essay writing. It is the structure of an essay you are about to write. It includes all the main points you have to discuss in each section along with the thesis statement. Like every house has a map before it is constructed, the same is the importance of an essay outline.
Essay planning is essential to ensure your essay is organized and coherent. Using a plan to begin your essay writing process will help you figure out your main idea, topic sentences, and details. Luckily, tried and tested essay planning sheets and templates can assist you with outlining your essay and improving your writing skills.
Parts of an essay. An impactful, well-structured essay comes down to three important parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion. 1. The introduction sets the stage for your essay and is typically a paragraph long. It should grab the reader's attention and give them a clear idea of what your essay will be about.
Read through these instructions carefully— this box should be deleted before you submit your essay plan.This document is provided to help you structure your essay plan. Refer to the exemplar if you need an example of what type of information should be written in each section. WRIT1001 - Academic English Essay Plan Template Beyond the Finish Line : The Mental and Physical Rewards of Running ...
Essay Help 11. Essay Planning 12. PEE Paragraph Practise 13. Essay Practise (Gothic Atmosphere) 14. L9 / A* Grade vs L7 / A Grade Example Essays + Feedback (Frightening Outsider) 15. L9 / A* Grade Essay Example (Tension and Mystery) 16. L8 / A Grade Essay Example + Feedback (Unnatural and Threatening) 17.
The first and oldest element of the peace plan relates to the vision of "a State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel on the basis of 1967 borders living in peace and security." This is an end goal envisioned in successive resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and UN Security Council as well as by the International Court ...
Twenty winners from all across Arizona will get $529 for their AZ529 account. Yee is trying to reach as many families as possible, heading across the state to promote the contest and savings plan.
essay. Thinkers and theories. Rawls the redeemer. For John Rawls, liberalism was more than a political project: it is the best way to fashion a life that is worthy of happiness. Alexandre Lefebvre. Save. essay. Computing and artificial intelligence. Mere imitation.
JERUSALEM — Three hundred and thirty-two days after Hersh Goldberg-Polin danced in the courtyard next to his Jerusalem synagogue on the holiday of Simchat Torah, more than a thousand people ...
ChatGPT can compose essays, have philosophical conversations, ... The experience is a prototype, and OpenAI plans to integrate the best features directly into ChatGPT in the future.