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A year ago, ChatGPT didn’t exist. There wasn’t an easy-to-use interface where you could type a “prompt” and get a detailed response in seconds. There were no conversations with friends, family, and colleagues about “that new AI” that students are using for homework, the one that sometimes gets things wrong, the one making headlines, and the one that might change – or even end – the world. The hype surrounding GPT – generative pre-trained transformer – wasn’t a household topic.
As we approach the anniversary of ChatGPT’s launch by OpenAI, let’s reflect on a year that dramatically altered our world, featuring everything from intriguing company dynamics to groundbreaking AI advancements, as covered by VentureBeat.
November 2022
OpenAI launched ChatGPT and the GPT-3.5 series on November 30, 2022, amid rumors of an upcoming GPT-4. At the NeurIPS conference, instead of unveiling GPT-4, OpenAI introduced text-davinci-003, a model in the GPT-3.5 series, which promised to handle more complex instructions and produce higher quality content. Alongside, they launched an early demo of ChatGPT, an interactive model part of the GPT-3.5 series, designed to engage in follow-up questions, acknowledge mistakes, and reject inappropriate requests. ChatGPT quickly became the fastest-growing consumer app in history.
December 2022
Two weeks post-launch, ChatGPT sparked massive interest and criticism. People hailed it as revolutionary, while some described it as a “world-class BS artist.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed concerns, warning against over-reliance on ChatGPT, calling it “incredibly limited” and highlighting the need for further improvements in robustness and truthfulness.
January 2023
Businesses and institutions began grappling with the implications of large language models. The International Conference on Machine Learning banned the inclusion of text generated by language models, unless used for experimental analysis.
February 2023
Google entered the AI race by investing $300 million in Anthropic, an OpenAI rival, valuing Anthropic at about $5 billion. Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI researchers and funded significantly by Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-defunct FTX, released its generative AI model, Claude.
March 2023
In a surprise move, OpenAI launched GPT-4, a more advanced system that solved complex problems more accurately and added new features like image inputs and extended text handling, enhancing ChatGPT’s capabilities.
April 2023
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman embarked on a global tour to promote OpenAI amid a backdrop of critical scrutiny, including calls for an AI development pause, privacy concerns from Italy, FTC rule violations, and security vulnerabilities.
May 2023
OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Plus subscribers would get access to ChatGPT Plugins, allowing the AI to interact with the internet and use over 70 third-party plugins. This beta release promised early access to experimental features.
June 2023
Google DeepMind’s efforts to surpass ChatGPT heated up with CEO Demis Hassabis highlighting the development of the Gemini system, which combines LLM technology with reinforcement learning, designed for enhanced planning and problem-solving, though it faced delays by November.
July 2023
Facing new challenges, OpenAI was investigated by the FTC for consumer protection violations, and faced a lawsuit from Sarah Silverman for copyright infringement. Reports claimed GPT-4 had become “lazier and dumber,” which OpenAI product VP Peter Welinder denied, asserting each version was smarter.
August 2023
OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Enterprise, entering a competitive field with rivals like Cohere, Anthropic, and Microsoft Azure targeting the same market.
September 2023
OpenAI addressed one of ChatGPT’s major weaknesses, its knowledge cut-off, by integrating it with Microsoft’s Bing search engine, allowing it to browse the internet for real-time and authoritative information.
October 2023
OpenAI gave ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise users access to DALL-E 3, the latest image generator, capable of rendering intricate details and responding to detailed prompts, supporting both landscape and portrait formats.
November 2023
OpenAI’s first developer conference, Dev Day, was filled with announcements like custom GPTs and the new GPT-4 Turbo. However, the excitement was dampened by the surprise firing of CEO Sam Altman mid-month. Despite the drama, it’s undeniable that ChatGPT’s emergence transformed the mainstream AI landscape over the past year, setting the stage for what lies ahead in 2024.