OpenAI on Wednesday launched GPT Store, an online marketplace where users can share their custom chatbots with others, after delaying it late last year amid the ousting—and rehiring—of CEO Sam Altman.
The GPT Store allows users to share their custom-made chatbots with others—and eventually make money off of their engagement. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- GPT Store became available to paid ChatGPT customers on Wednesday and allows them to search GPTs—for example, bots designed to help one decide which book to read or how to find a tutoring service—developed by OpenAI partners and others, according to an OpenAI blog post.
- The store will operate similarly to Apple’s App Store and Alphabet’s Google Play store, according to multiple reports, and will allow users to search for chatbots by category and see which ones are popular among users.
- OpenAI said that in the two months since it allowed users to make their own bots more than 3 million have been created—though OpenAI didn’t specify how many would be available on the store.
- Chatbots created by OpenAI users will not be automatically placed in the store as GPT creators have to first give approval.
What We Don’t Know
How much money people will make on the GPT Store. OpenAI said in Wednesday’s post that it will launch a “GPT builder revenue program” in the first quarter of this year that will let U.S. builders be “paid based on user engagement with their GPTs.”
Tangent
OpenAI also announced the launch of ChatGPT Team, a smaller version of ChatGPT Enterprise, which was released last August and offered “enterprise-grade security” to organizations wanting to use ChatGPT. GPT Team offers access to GPT-4, DALL·E 3, the ability to create custom GPTs and more. OpenAI is offering the plan for $25 per user per month if billed annually or $30 per user per month if billed monthly.
Key Background
OpenAI originally said in a blog post the store would be released in November, but Bloomberg reported the company told GPT creators in an email in late November the release date was pushed to early 2024 as “a few unexpected things have been keeping us busy!” That news came shortly after OpenAI fired—and days later reinstated—Altman, who had served as CEO since 2019. Altman’s firing led to a revolt from employees, 95% of whom threatened to quit unless Altman was reinstated. Wednesday’s debut of GPT Store and GPT Team were the first big releases by the company since Altman’s departure and return, marking the company’s return to business.
This article was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
