OpenAI set to launch store as ChatGPT reaches 100mn users

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OpenAI is launching custom versions of ChatGPT that can be adapted and tailored for specific applications, turning the chatbot interface into a digital platform like iOS or Android.

Known as GPTs, the tools can be built using plain English for cases such as tutoring a child in maths, creating a travel concierge or designing a website. The Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence company said it planned to launch a GPT Store in the coming weeks, to collate the best apps, and eventually split revenues with the most popular GPT creators.

The store’s launch comes exactly a year after the public debut of ChatGPT, echoing Apple’s decision to launch the iOS App Store a year after the iPhone, which brought it into the software services business.

In an event for developers on Monday, OpenAI said ChatGPT had 100mn weekly active users, and launched a new AI model, GPT-4 Turbo, for developers, which can analyse more than 300 pages of text in a single prompt, and is more than two times cheaper than its previous offering.

“We believe if you give people better tools, they will do amazing things. Eventually you’ll ask a computer for what you need and it will do all these tasks for you,” said Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI.

Allowing people to build these chatbots without coding makes it more “accessible and gives agency to everyone”, Altman said, adding that “gradual iterative deployment” was OpenAI’s approach to creating autonomous AI safely.

Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, joined Altman on stage, saying OpenAI had “built something magical” and that ultimately the groups’ partnership was about “getting benefits of AI broadly disseminated to everyone”.

Altman said: “I think we have the best partnership in tech and I’m excited to build [artificial general intelligence] together.”

Some of the examples of GPTs showcased by the company include a computer science lesson planner from its partner Code.org, a non-profit that teaches kids to code, as well as an Airbnb house manual, for which its AI models such as Dall-E2 automatically generated images and instructions based on user prompts.

“We believe natural language will be a big part of how people use computers in the future. This is an interesting early example,” Altman said.

Since launching its conversational chatbot last November, OpenAI has introduced a mobile app version, and added features including image generation and analysis to ChatGPT. The new custom GPTs can be created by existing ChatGPT Plus subscribers, and shared online using a link or designed for internal use by its enterprise customers, OpenAI said.

The tools can also be used to complete actions, such as booking restaurant tables. Altman said AI chatbots like GPTs would start to handle online tasks autonomously, turning them into so-called agents. “They will gradually be able to plan and perform more complex actions on your behalf,” he said.

As OpenAI expands its ambitions in building a viable business and developing cutting-edge AI, it is under pressure to raise significant capital for infrastructure and computing costs. The company is in talks with existing investors including Thrive Capital about selling shares at a valuation of $86bn, roughly three times what it was worth six months ago.

A stock sale at the level OpenAI is targeting would make the San Francisco-based group one of the world’s most highly valued private companies.