Generative AI applications such as ChatGPT are hugely powerful tools. But while they can be used to help humans achieve all sort of tasks at speed, they're not welcome everywhere.
At the time of writing, ChatGPT is 'unavailable' – effectively banned – in China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Egypt, North Korea and Belarus. It's also been kicked out of numerous workplaces (Amazon, JP Morgan, Verizon and others) and some schools in Australia and France.
This means that when you try to access ChatGPT, you might find yourself confronted with a blocking notice or an error message that reads, "ChatGPT is not available in your country".
By firing up a VPN, you'll be able to spoof your location, thus removing the block and giving you access to ChatGPT – not to mention a wealth of other geo-blocked sites and services.