ChatGPT plugins are a powerful way to expand its functionality by allowing it to leverage third-party resources during conversations. One such plugin is the Weaviate Retrieval Plugin, which connects ChatGPT to an instance of Weaviate and enables it to query relevant documents from the vector database, upsert documents for later use, and delete documents when needed. The process of creating a ChatGPT plugin involves setting up a development environment, implementing specific endpoints, preparing plugin manifest files, testing locally, and deploying remotely to platforms like Fly.io. These plugins can be used to address shortcomings in ChatGPT's current capabilities, such as the lack of contextual understanding or mathematical reasoning.