ABSTRACT With the advancements of artificial intelligence technology, ChatGPT, a new practice of artificial intelligence, holds immense potential across multiple fields. Its user-friendly human-machine interface, rapid response capabilities, and delivery of high-quality answers have attracted considerable attention and widespread usage. Regarded by many as a groundbreaking advancement in AI, ChatGPT represents a new milestone in the field. However, as with any technological evolution, the emergence of ChatGPT brings not only benefits, but also inevitable security risks and ethical issues. This paper provides specific information about ChatGPT, including its technology, limitations, ethical issues, governance paths and future directions. Specifically, we firstly offered a thorough exploration of the technical implementation details of GPT series models. Next, we provided an intricate analysis elucidating the reasons for limitations and scrutinized the consequential impacts, such as malicious misuse, privacy violation, and so on. Finally, we explore diverse governance paths to mitigate the impacts of ChatGPT and present future directions. This review aims to equip users with crucial knowledge, facilitating well-informed decision-making, effectively handling of potential challenges in employing ChatGPT, and staying abreast with the rapidly evolving landscape of this technology.