I pushed eight free AI chatbots to their limits to find the best AI chatbots of 2026. To explore our top picks, check out ZDNET's chatbot-by-chatbot guide.

Story by Kate Park, Kyle Wiggers, Cody Corrall, Alyssa Stringer ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to ...

Is an AI subscription worth it? How to choose your premium chatbot plan - and what not to do ...

We take you through what exactly Perplexity is, how it works, what sets it apart from ChatGPT and other gen AI tools -- and about some of the legal battles it's facing. Barbara is a tech writer ...

OpenAI has retired GPT-4o and other older models from ChatGPT today, citing a shift to newer GPT-5 systems amid controversy and legal scrutiny.