A little over three years ago, OpenAI threw the rest of the tech industry into chaos. When ChatGPT was launched, even billed as an “apparent research announcement,” it immediately became clear that OpenAI was showing the world a novel way of processing data. Many other companies, especially Google, had to immediately catch up as artificial intelligence took over the world.
Now the encryption is handled by OpenAI. CEO Sam Altman sent a memo to his team this week declaring a “code red,” stating that OpenAI needs to refocus on its core products to keep up with the onslaught of competition from Google Gemini and others. The question is: what does improving ChatGPT actually look like?
ON this episode VergecastDavid and Nilay discuss the state of ChatGPT and the biggest questions facing the entire AI industry. But before we get to that, we have some other news to cover. Samsung has released a triplex phone that is either amazing or pointless, or maybe a little bit of both. Apple’s leadership shake-up continues, with chief design officer Alan Dye leaving this time to set up a design studio at Meta. Is an exit from Dye good for Apple as many say? Or is this manager turnover a sign that something bad is happening at Apple Park? (After the recording, the company even announced more turnover too.)
Then we turn to AI. The questions facing OpenAI and other LLM companies increasingly focus on whether LLMs are even the right technology to deliver what boosters promise. After all, language is not the same as intelligence. But let’s say for the sake of argument that this is as good as technology can ever get. What products are left to build? And who will build them?
If you want to learn more about everything we cover in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on Apple Gadgets and News:
And in the lightning round: