Carrot Weather update introduces snarky chatbot based on ChatGPT

Carrot Weather, the forecasting app best known for its hilarious (and often sassy) weather updates, has introduced a ChatGPT-based chatbot that lets users chat directly with no polite personality of the app using as much profanity as possible. Rolling out globally today on iOS, Carrot version 5.10 also expands its high-quality radar maps, notifications, and weather alerts to more countries.

You can ask Carrot’s new chatbot for weather updates — which it will deliver along with the app’s usual heartwarming insults — along with more recreational interactions we’ve come to expect from ChatGPT’s generational AI , such as asking the bot to play a text-based adventure game or write a script for a crime drama. Users who are too antagonistic can adjust the chatbot’s responses to the Carrot AI personality to vary how it behaves, with options for helpful, calm, depressed, angry, drunk, and more.

There are also character-driven modes like Mobster, Cowboy, Pirate, and Soviet for a more roleplay-like experience, and uh, Fake News if you want the bot to ignore your questions completely in favor of spouting bullshit . The chatbot gives all Carrot users five messages for free (according to our tests), with more available for purchase through Carrot’s Tip Jar.

The 5.10 update also rolls out push notifications to Premium account members ($4.99 a month or $19.99 annually) for government-issued weather alerts in Canada, Israel, and most of Europe, including support for Critical alerts for life-threatening weather events and multi-tracking. locations. Lightning warnings are also now available for Premium Ultra subscribers ($9.99 a month or $39.99 annually) in Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean, alerting users of nearby lightning strikes in place Specific notifications can be muted by going to the Mute Filters tab within the app’s settings.

Carrot’s radar view, a map that shows forecast layers that track weather conditions like precipitation, has been expanded across Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and much of Europe. As with US users, anyone in these expanded regions can access the app’s Inspector feature (which requires a Premium Ultra membership) and switch the radar color palette between preselected themes. The new regions don’t currently appear on the app’s mini-map, Home Screen widget, or Apple Watch, but Carrot developer Brian Mueller confirmed that The Verge that they should be available “in the next month or two.”

Finally, Carrot adds support for level 3 products from Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) — a network of 160 advanced weather radars operated by the NOAA National Weather Service — such as total storm accumulation to provide detailed tracking for severe weather in the US. This feature falls under Carrot’s Individual Radar Station Mode for Premium Ultra members, which refreshes the app’s radar view more frequently and displays radar at a higher resolution, giving users more up-to-date and detailed information when tracking storms.