OpenAI on Monday launched new AI models and a desktop version of ChatGPT along with an updated user interface, the company’s latest effort to expand the use of its popular chatbot.
The update brings GPT-4 to everyone, including OpenAI’s free users, technology lead Mira Murati said during a livestream event. She added that the new model, GPT-4o, is “much faster” with improved text, video and audio capabilities. OpenAI said it plans to eventually allow users to video chat via ChatGPT.
“This is the first time we’ve really made a big step forward in terms of ease of use,” Murati said.
Powered by OpenAI microsoft, was valued at more than $80 billion by investors. Founded in 2015, the company is under pressure to maintain its lead in the generative AI market, spending heavily on processors and infrastructure to build and train its models.
The o in GPT-4o stands for omni. The new model allows ChatGPT to handle 50 languages with increased speed and quality and is also available through OpenAI’s API, so developers can start building applications using the new model today, Murati said.
She added that GPT-4o is twice as fast as GPT-4 Turbo and costs half as much.
OpenAI team members demonstrated the new model’s audio capabilities, for example asking it to help calm someone down before a public speech. OpenAI researcher Mark Chen added that the model can “recognize your emotions” and can even handle user interruptions. The team also asked users to analyze their facial expressions to comment on the emotions they might be experiencing.
“Hello. What’s going on? How can I have a good day today?” ChatGPT’s audio mode allows users to speak when greeting them.
According to the blog post, the company plans to test voice mode through early access for ChatGPT Plus paid subscribers in the coming weeks. OpenAI also said the new model can respond to a user’s audio prompt “within 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which is similar to the response time of a human in a conversation.”
Chen demonstrated the models’ ability to tell bedtime stories and asked them to change their tone of voice to be more dramatic or robotic. He even asked me to sing the story.
OpenAI’s new model can also act as a translator in audio mode, the company said. Chen demonstrated the tool’s ability to listen to Murati speak Italian while he spoke English and translate into that language as they spoke.
Team members also demonstrated the model’s ability to solve mathematical equations and help write code, establishing it as a strong competitor to Microsoft’s own GitHub Copilot.
This launch from OpenAI was one of the company’s biggest announcements since the August launch of ChatGPT Enterprise, the business layer for AI chatbots. Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief operating officer, told CNBC at the time that the tool had been in development for “less than a year” and had help from more than 20 companies of various sizes and industries.
Open AI, Microsoft, Google The generative AI gold rush is at the forefront of the generative AI gold rush, with companies across all industries racing to add AI-powered chatbots and agents to their core services to keep up with their competitors. Earlier this month, OpenAI competitor Anthropic announced its first enterprise product and free iPhone app.
According to PitchBook, $29.1 billion will be invested in approximately 700 generative AI deals in 2023, up more than 260% from the previous year. The market is expected to generate $1 trillion in sales within 10 years.
Some in the industry have raised concerns about the speed at which new, untested services are coming to market, while academics and ethicists are concerned about the technology’s tendency to propagate bias.
After launching in November 2022, ChatGPT broke then-records 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 the platform.
Murati said at Monday’s event that OpenAI wants to “take some of the mysticism out of the technology.”
“We will be rolling out these features to everyone over the next few weeks,” she said.
The new model will roll out first to ChatGPT Plus and Team customers on Tuesday and then to Enterprise later, a blog post said Monday. Starting Monday, it will also be available to ChatGPT free users, with usage restrictions. 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 technology.
“I would also like to thank the amazing OpenAI team and the Jensen and Nvidia teams for providing us with the most advanced GPUs to make this demo possible today,” she said.
