Yesterday was the first OpenAI Developer Day in San Francisco, where CEO Sam Altman took the stage to talk about what OpenAI has done so far and share improvements and new features, focusing on their flagship tool ChatGPT. The consequences of his statements were huge for millions of businesses around the world. You’ll want to know what they mean for yours.
Altman reminded the audience that on November 30, 2022, they submitted ChatGPT as a “low-key research preview.” He described this launch as “pretty good” and went on to say that GPT4 is “still the most capable model in the world”, as well as telling the audience that ChatGPT has two million developers, 100 million weekly active users, and the tool is used by 92% of Fortune 500 companies. Their strategy is product driven, not marketing driven. “People just find it useful and tell their friends,” he explained, and “we love hearing the stories of how people are using the technology.”
Altman announced monumental improvements and new features that OpenAI will release over the next few months. Here’s what they could mean for your business.
OpenAI Developer Conference: Implications for Entrepreneurs
Among various new releases and updates, including better world awareness, improved customization, higher speed limits, reduced costs, and more robust copyright shields, were some game-changing functionalities that will directly impact entrepreneurs and their businesses. Here are the top four.
Write code without a programmer
“OpenAI just made English the language of coding,” said entrepreneur Kyle Ballmer. “Its new Assistant API will mean any business can implement their own tools without code using natural language.” The power of this is huge. Entrepreneurs have many ideas. Being able to turn ideas into products by describing them in natural language will mean that the time between concept and MVP can be reduced to hours, if not minutes, and costs completely erased.
“These assistants can integrate with other OpenAI models and tools,” added a technology and AI educator Paul Cooverwho described the announcement as “a small revolution for businesses” that can now build custom tools and automate the processing and use of their data.
Compute more data for less cost
“The update to ChatGPT’s context window, which now supports up to 128,000 tokens, represents a significant improvement in its capabilities,” said AI Tutor Alvaro Cintas, who explained that one token is roughly equivalent to four characters in English. “With this upgrade, ChatGPT can now compute around 300 pages of text at once, greatly increasing its processing power.”
This upgrade will mean deeper analysis and research, leading to better business insights. This includes “detailed analysis of large documents such as market research reports or technical manuals.” It will also help create better content with ChatGPT, as the expanded context “allows greater consistency across the piece by ensuring that all sections are well-aligned and contextually appropriate.” ChatGPT’s brain can hold more information, so yours doesn’t have to.
Deploy responsive GPT chatbots
“It’s going to revolutionize the digital environment,” said AI educator Dan Fitzpatrick, who helps schools integrate AI strategically. “Altman’s demonstration on stage signals an impending shake-up in conventional education. It is clear that our current educational structures are unprepared for such a transformative technology. Schools, like businesses, will need to think quickly to figure out how to incorporate these versions into their work.
Education aside, the business potential is huge. OpenAI won’t be the first or last company to create custom GPTs, and entrepreneurs now have options on how to distribute their content to grow their brand. “They either have to evolve or risk becoming obsolete,” Fitzpatrick said of schools, a sentiment that also applies to businesses.
Consolidation of tools
While it may seem like a minor part of the event announcements, Altman’s explanation that soon, “you won’t have to click around the dropdown, everything will work together. ChatGPT will know what to use and when you need it,” is actually huge. OpenAI doesn’t build a bunch of separate tools that you can pick up and plug in as your workflow dictates. Instead, it becomes a comprehensive tool. In his vision, entrepreneurs would log into ChatGPT and manage their entire business from its platform, including assistants, GPT, plugins, internet access, image generators, and integration with any other platform they use. That’s a big one.
The ability to use all features without switching chats is known as “All Tools”. This doesn’t mean “All tools are screwed”, but it probably should. The outlook for other AI tool companies is bleak and that many will disappear. Soon you will be able to e.g. upload an image, prompt ChatGPT to change it using natural language. What leaves Photoshop and graphic designers? Existing platforms face a choice: close their doors, shrink their niche, or compete with OpenAI.
What ChatGPT’s new features mean for entrepreneurs
As with all disruptive technologies, there will be winners and losers. The winners are the entrepreneurs who use it to create more output and make a bigger impact with less time and money. Those who can learn a new platform, understand the possibilities and work to maximize results.
The losers are those who don’t adapt, get outbid, or can’t find a way to differentiate their offering from what’s out there now. The challenge is clear and the mission is yours. How will you use this?
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