one year on
OpenAI releases ChatGPT, a conversational AI that can write essays and code, for free during a feedback period
The new chatbot, based on GPT-3.5, is stunning testers with its ability to generate coherent text and solve complex problems.
OpenAI has released ChatGPT, released for anyone to use, for free, during a “feedback” period, a conversational AI built on GPT-3.5 that is free to use. The chatbot can answer follow-up questions, admit mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests, according to OpenAI.
Academics are stunned by its capabilities. Dan Gillmor, a journalism professor at Arizona State University, said the AI’s response to an assignment would have earned a good grade and that “Academia has some very serious issues to confront.” Programmers are using it to solve coding challenges in obscure languages in seconds. The AI can also refuse to answer queries about illegal activities, but the limits are easy to evade by framing requests as fictional scenarios.
Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and left in 2017, tweeted that OpenAI had access to Twitter’s database for training but he paused that, questioning the organization’s governance and revenue plans. OpenAI says it hopes to use feedback from the free release to improve the final version.
The record
The journalism professor said he would have given the AI's response to an assignment a good grade and that academia has serious issues to confront.
The co-founder of OpenAI tweeted that the organization had access to Twitter's database for training but he put that on pause, adding that OpenAI was started as open-source and non-profit and neither is still true.
One year later — open only if you can handle spoilers
ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history, reaching 100 million users within two months. It triggered a global conversation about AI safety, regulation, and the future of work, and set off a race among tech giants to launch competing chatbots. The 'overhang' Vincent described proved real: society is still grappling with the consequences.
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