OpenAI on Monday announced new AI models and a desktop version of ChatGPT, along with an updated user interface. This is the company's latest effort to expand the use of its popular chatbot.
The update brings GPT-4 to all users, including OpenAI's free users, head of technology Mira Murati said in a livestream event. She added that her new model, the GPT-4o, is “much faster” and has improved text, video and audio capabilities. OpenAI said it plans to eventually allow users to video chat with ChatGPT.
“This is the first time we've really taken a big step forward in terms of ease of use,” Murati said.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI is valued by investors at more than $80 billion. Founded in 2015, the company is under pressure to stay on top of the generative AI market while finding ways to make money, as it spends huge amounts on processors and infrastructure to build and train models. I am.
The o in GPT-4o stands for omni. The new model makes ChatGPT faster and better, handles 50 different languages, and is now available through OpenAI's API, allowing developers to start building applications using the new model today. Murati said it will be ready to start.
She added that GPT-4o is twice as fast as GPT-4 Turbo and costs half as much.
Members of the OpenAI team demonstrated the new model's audio capabilities to help calm someone down before a public speech, for example. OpenAI researcher Mark Chen said the model can “recognize emotions,” adding that the model can also handle users interrupting their emotions. The team also asked users to analyze their facial expressions and comment on the emotions they might be experiencing.
“Hey, what's up? How can I brighten your day today?” ChatGPT's audio mode notifies you when you say hello.
The company plans to test the voice mode in the coming weeks and offer early access to ChatGPT Plus for paying subscribers, according to a blog post. OpenAI also said the new model can respond to a user's voice prompt in “just 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which is about the same response time for a human conversation.”
Mr. Chen demonstrated the models' ability to tell bedtime stories, asking them to change the tone of their voices to be more dramatic or robotic. He even asked it to sing a story.
Additionally, OpenAI's new model can also function as a translator in audio mode, the company said. Cheng listened to Murati speak in Italian while speaking English, demonstrating the tool's ability to translate into each language during the conversation.
Team members also demonstrated the model's ability to solve mathematical equations and help write code, positioning it as a strong competitor to Microsoft's own GitHub Copilot.
For OpenAI, this announcement marks one of the company's biggest announcements since the August kickoff of ChatGPT Enterprise, the business layer of AI chatbots. Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's chief operating officer, told CNBC at the time that the tool was developed in “less than a year” and involved more than 20 companies of various sizes and industries. .
OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google are leading the generative AI gold rush as companies across all industries race to add AI-powered chatbots and agents to their core services to avoid being left behind by competitors. . Earlier this month, OpenAI rival Anthropic announced its first enterprise product and free iPhone app.
According to PitchBook, a record $29.1 billion was invested in nearly 700 generative AI deals in 2023, an increase of more than 260% year over year. Market revenue is predicted to exceed $1 trillion within 10 years.
Some in the industry have expressed concerns about the speed with which untested new services are brought to market, and academics and ethicists are concerned that the technology tends to propagate bias. .
Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has broken the record at the time as the fastest growing consumer app in history and now has approximately 100 million weekly active users. According to OpenAI, more than 92% of Fortune 500 companies use its platform.
Murati said at Monday's event that OpenAI “wants to take some of the mysticism out of technology.”
“We plan to roll out these features to everyone in the coming weeks,” she said.
According to a blog post on Monday, the new model will first be rolled out to ChatGPT Plus and Team customers on Tuesday, and then to enterprises. ChatGPT's free users will also be able to use it with limited usage starting Monday. ChatGPT Plus users have five times the message capacity of free users, and ChatGPT Team and Enterprise clients have even greater usage limits.
Murati concluded the livestream event by thanking Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his company for providing the graphics processing units (GPUs) needed to power OpenAI's technology. .
“I want to thank the amazing OpenAI team, and I also want to thank Jensen and the Nvidia team for providing the cutting-edge GPUs to make this demo possible today,” she said.
