ChatGPT has been in operation for one year today. But the celebration gets overshadowed by the recent crisis within OpenAI, in which the chatbot even lost its owner for a short period.
The generative AI chatbot ChatGPT is one year old today. During this year, the tool was transformed into several paying variants. These give users unlimited access to the service or increase privacy to persuade business customers to use it.
The original variant of the chatbot thus has some siblings but also many competitors who were only too eager to win over ChatGPT users. ChatGPT’s user numbers in the initial period were hallucinatory. This is not surprising since it was a first for the general public to get acquainted with the capabilities of an AI chatbot. Today, user numbers sit around 180 million, according to figures from Exploding Topics. Enough friends to throw a big party for, in other words.
Also read: OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise doubles speed and removes privacy concerns
Damper on the revelry
But the anniversary is overshadowed by the crisis OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, recently found itself in. The board of directors suddenly decided to unleash a power struggle by firing Sam Altman, CEO and public face of OpenAI.
That move eventually came back like a boomerang in the face of this board. Company staff revolted, signing a letter in large numbers demanding that Altman be reinstated as CEO. The board of directors was also not spared for their actions and had to disappear from the scene completely. If this did not happen, 90 percent of the staff would resign. For those still wondering, Altman was back on board as CEO within the week.
Trust is lost
What remains after a weekend full of surprises and sudden twists and turns is a company led by a CEO who, despite great support inside and outside his organization, will have to learn to trust again. The board of directors broke this trust by throwing Altman out in one abrupt decision. This eventually led to three new members of the board. New board chair Bret Taylor says he and the board are fully committed to improving OpenAI’s governance structure. “So that all stakeholders – users, customers, employees, partners and community members – can have confidence that OpenAI will continue to thrive.” The new members immediately get tested with this tough job.
Moreover, Ilya Sutskever, a pivotal figure in Atlman’s resignation, may remain at OpenAI. His expression of regret during the crisis seems to have saved him. He stated at the time that he never wanted to damage the company and would do everything he could to restore it. That now appears to require him to give up his position on the board of directors but not to leave the company. What role Sutskever will take then is not yet known. Altman indicates in the blog that he is already getting along with Sutskever again: “I love and respect Ilya, I think he is a guiding light of the field and a gem of a human being. I harbor zero ill will towards him.”
Microsoft doesn’t get his loyalty repaid
A helping hand during the crisis Altman did find outside his organization. Both Altman and colleague Greg Brockman, whom the board of directors had also kicked out, were allowed to join Microsoft immediately. A new, advanced AI research team was created for both men, over which they were put in charge.
But for Microsoft, the crisis ends with an exercise in how it, as the largest investor, can get more security for its money. Especially now that the company is being fobbed off with a small role on OpenAI’s board of directors. With its hands and feet tied, it will be allowed to hear what sweeping decisions the board wants to make, but it cannot intervene. How the largest investor feels about this role after it nearly saw its billion-dollar investment go up in smoke, the future will have to tell. The tech giant could not be reached for immediate comment.
Also read: Microsoft gets ears but no say in OpenAI’s board of directors
ChatGPT thus celebrates its first birthday in a family where trust is completely lost. If the generous uncle, Microsoft, also soon decides to stop the funding now that the company is being leashed, the chatbot will get a second crisis for its birthday.