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There have been a flurry of reports of ChatGPT and Google Bard providing users with serial keys for Windows 11 (or Windows 10), but as you might guess, these don’t appear to be fully functional (and aren’t). It’s a good idea to learn about this method of getting the OS up and running – we’ll come back to why later).
Neowin reported some of these incidents, as flagged on Twitter by Sid, who reported about Windows 10 Pro keys being provided by both ChatGPT (which powers Bing AI) and Google’s Bard chatbot. posted.
ChatGPT gives you free Windows 10 Pro keys! And it amazingly works 😂 pic.twitter.com/T4Y90lfzoYJune 16, 2023
Sid also posted about successfully getting an upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro using the same method (which we also saw last week getting hold of Windows 7 keys – as discovered by enderman,
This is how you can upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro for free using Google Bard/ChatGPT! It works 😭 pic.twitter.com/ev353HsKOlJune 17, 2023
Indeed, we’ve seen a post on Reddit that the code requested for Windows 7 Ultimate actually works for Windows 11 Pro (of course add seasoning to all these claims – further reports along such lines are hard to find on various online forums. Not there) .
Analysis: Don’t be greedy…
So, what’s going on here? For starters, as you can see if you sift through these various threads, a vast majority of these keys don’t work anyway. However, some people are having success with at least the serial keys provided, and getting Windows 10 or 11 to install (or firing up an upgrade to Pro).
The advice given to those who can’t get one to work is to just keep trying, but even if you’re good to start setting up an OS, that’s not the end of the story.
The thing is, these appear to be generic installation keys, meaning they allow installation of a given Windows edition, but crucially, not activation. These common keys are freely available and designed for anyone to, for example, try out the OS on their own machine to make sure it works, or to get a taste of it.
In other words, going ahead with the installation (or upgrade process in some cases) with one of these keys, which at first glance appears to work, ends up when you realize that it cannot be activated. Could be heartache – and you’ll end up getting your PC back as it was. In short, you will be going through a lot of trouble for no reason.
What the chatbot is doing is pulling generic keys from a website somewhere (these aren’t hard to find, you just need to do a simple web search). As Neowin informs us, when he tried the same stunt, Bard even said the key was from an old PC (and, surprisingly, ChatGPT said the keys were “for personal use only.” and should not be used for any illegal activities”).
Even if, somehow, one of these keys works and turns out to be valid for activation—which the report supposedly is (here, there’s the salt shaker)—we still think that at some point, you will inevitably pay a price to stop paying for a product, which ultimately Is piracy. Blaming the chatbot that gave you the code is not going to be a credible defense – you just went ahead and knowingly did something illegal.
In short, then, you’re ignoring these whispers of free serial keys, and we’d be surprised if you found one that worked (and continues to work) for real verification – because someone with the key Received through dodgy means not guaranteed). Is it worth living under the shadow of your OS installation’s ability to have that key expire at some stage down the line? In our book, no, it isn’t — and as we’ve already said, it’s illegal anyway. clean thoroughly…
