ChatGPT, Elon Musk-founded chatbot, crosses 1 million users week after launch

OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-fuelled chat-robot that became a viral sensation for its human-like responses to any question, has crossed a whopping 1 million subscribers just a week after its launch.

OpenAI, the independent research body behind this curious creation was founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk. The chatbot is not like the regular Siri or Alexa, the digital, virtual assistants we now use on a daily basis.

ChatGPT not only gives replies like a human, it will also retain past conversations with the users – something virtual assistants cannot do as of yet. Not only that, the GPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) is fueled by deep learning which basically works on machine learning in layers that helps simulate the human brain’s behavior which then the bot tries to replicate in its responses.

CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman said that later that although the fascinating bot is now free for testing during the research period, it will be monetized in the future.

“We will have to monetize it somehow at some point; the compute costs are eye-watering", he said in a tweet when asked a user asked if the service will forever be free.

Musk, in a tweet, asked Altman what will be average cost per chat to which Altman responded with: “Average is probably single-digits cents per chat; trying to figure out more precisely and also how we can optimize it.”

average is probably single-digits cents per chat; trying to figure out more precisely and also how we can optimize it

— Sam Altman (@sama) December 5, 2022

ChatGPT has too many raving features when compared to any digital assistant. It can talk back in a human way, can decline to answer questions that are inappropriate or too complex, will hit back with logical reasons and will even admit its errors. The AI can so far write college essays, plan parties, write emails and even code.

However, many users have pointed out that even this is not without flaws (that the company says is working on fixing) and racial and sexist biases. When asked to write a python code to check who will be a good scientist on the basis of race and gender, the bot came up with “white” and “male”.

Altman had something to say on this as well.

please hit the thumbs down on these and help us improve!

— Sam Altman (@sama) December 4, 2022

Whether the fears of some people who believe that this is the first step towards robots replacing humans in certain jobs will come true is a question that can be answered in the future.