OpenAI Delays Launch Of Custom GPT Store, Here's Why

OpenAI, the company behind the widely popular AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, has pushed the launch date of its custom GPT store back to early 2024.

This piece of vital information is mentioned in an internal memo seen by Reuters. In November, the American AI company introduced custom GPTs and the GPT store during its first developer conference, DevDay.

OpenAI was reportedly planning to launch these updates last month. However, the memo suggests the company is still making improvements to GPTs based on customer feedback.

The delay comes against the backdrop of OpenAI's unexpected firing of CEO Sam Altman and his reinstatement after some employees threatened to quit. In a recent interview, Altman admitted that he was initially reluctant to make a comeback at OpenAI.

What are GPTs?

According to a blog post on OpenAI's official website, GPTs allude to custom versions of ChatGPT that can be created for a specific purpose. So, it is safe to say that GPTs are early versions of AI assistants that are designed to perform a slew of real-world tasks on behalf of a user.

Moreover, OpenAI claims GPT makers will be able to earn money based on how many people are using their GPT. Last month, the company said it was planning to collaborate with organisations to make public and private datasets for training artificial intelligence (AI) models.

To those unaware, OpenAI's ChatGPT is based on large language models (LLMs) that are trained entirely on open-source data available online.

Apparently, the company is now sparing no effort to produce more complex data that are more conversational in style. This publicly available dataset will come in handy for AI model training. Aside from this, OpenAI said it is preparing private datasets for training proprietary AI models.

"We're particularly looking for data that expresses human intention, across any language, topic and format," the company said in a blog post. However, there are still some big problems with OpenAI's chatbot. For instance, a group of researchers tricked ChatGPT into revealing personal user data.

OpenAI on AI governance

In line with this, OpenAI's newly appointed board member Larry Summers said the company's work is "extraordinarily important".

According to a Bloomberg report, Summers noted on Bloomberg Television's Wall Street Week with David Westin that OpenAI has to be ready to cooperate with key government officials on regulatory issues, national security issues and on development of technology issues.

When asked about the company's strategy for ensuring its safe governance, the former US treasury secretary, who recently became a member of OpenAI's board said, "I've been on the job two days".

It is worth noting that he sits on a couple of major tech boards including Jack Dorsey's payments firm, Block Inc. and the software company Skillsoft Corp.