The revolutionary new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot has surpassed user expectations and already has more than 100 million active users.
Key Details
- ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022, and it has taken the world of technology by storm.
- After just two months, the AI chatbot has built a base of 100 million active users.
- A study from investment bank UBS released on Wednesday says that ChatGPT’s growth rate makes it one of the fasting-growing apps in history.
- Yahoo Finance notes that Tiktok took nine months to reach the same goal, while Instagram took 30 months.
- OpenAI opened a $20 per month subscription service for ChatGPT on Thursday.
- Competitor Google has rushed to catch up, only just revealing its rival “Bard” chatbot technology in a blog post on Monday, February 6.
Why It’s Important
ChatGPT has faced one of the most considerable adoption rates of software technology in recent memory. This has brought about concerns about the dangers of the software as well as praise for its potential. As more users rush to join ChatGPT, the potential and danger of the technology grow.
Microsoft has already signed a $10-billion deal with OpenAI to implement AI as a feature in several of its programs, including customer service software and as a search engine tool. Google subsequently rushed to produce a competitor software, seeing that Microsoft was about to make a generational leap ahead of them by implementing AI into its programs. It announced its plan to rollout Bard in a Monday blog post, stating that the technology will be publicly available in the next few weeks.
The technology itself is creating concerns for tech developers, with many of them warning that the technology is far more potent than users expect it to be and that it will create chaos as users find new ways to abuse it. Fears have already arisen that the chatbot software will be used to cheat on university exams, produce deep fakes that can threaten a person’s reputation, affect the outcome of elections, and replace white-collar workers.
Microsoft President Brad Smith is already advocating for safety and ethical considerations in AI research, saying in a Thursday blog post that building AI responsibly, making sure AI advances competitiveness and national security, and ensuring it serves society broadly are the only ways to keep the technology from becoming dangerous.
Notable Quote
“Data on DAUs suggests [ChatGPT] will surpass 100 million [users] in January, a massive achievement in such a short period of time. In 20 years following the Internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app,” says UBS.