In 2022, ChatGPT was basically type text, get text back. In 2026 the big apps are full bundles — and I'll be honest, I still find buttons I'd missed six months earlier. The menus shift constantly. So the goal here isn't to memorise every feature; it's just to know the category exists so you go looking for it.
Here's the menu most frontier apps now put in front of you:
- Fast chat — quick drafts, questions, edits. The bit you already know.
- Thinking / reasoning modes — slower, costs more compute, better on hard problems.
- Deep research — multi-source reports with citations (capped on free tiers).
- Images — generate or edit pictures from a prompt.
- Voice — talk instead of type. I use it in the car — not to look flash, but because my hands are busy and it's genuinely easier.
- Video / music — emerging on some tiers, still rough.
- File upload — drop in a PDF, spreadsheet or screenshot and "talk to the document."
You don't need every one of these. You just need to clock the shift: you're not paying for one trick any more — you're renting a whole menu. (Lesson 7 breaks down the prices and where each button lives.)
Continue — agents.