Three years ago, OpenAI threw the rest of the tech industry into chaos. When ChatGPT launched, also billed as a “low-key research preview”, it became immediately clear that OpenAI was showing the world a new way of computing. As AI took over the world, many other companies, especially Google, immediately struggled to catch up.
Now it’s OpenAI scrambling. CEO Sam Altman sent a note to his team this week declaring it “Code Red”, saying that OpenAI needed to refocus on its most important products to keep up with the onslaught of competition from Google’s Gemini and others. Now the question is, what does improving ChatGPT actually look like?
But This episode of The VergecastDavid and Nilay discussed the state of ChatGPT and the big questions facing the AI ​​industry as a whole. But before they get to that, there’s some more news to talk about. Samsung released a trifold phone, which is either amazing or pointless or probably a bit of both. Apple’s executive reshuffle continues, this time design boss Alan Dye is going to set up a design studio in Meta. Is Dye’s departure a good thing for Apple, as many are saying? Or is this management turnover a sign that something is wrong at Apple Park? (After we recorded, the company also announced More Turnover too.)
After that, we turn to AI. The questions facing OpenAI and the rest of the companies betting big on LLM increasingly center on whether LLM is the right technology to deliver what Booster has promised. After all, language is not the same as intelligence. But let’s say for the sake of argument that this is as good as the technology is ever going to get. What products are left to make? And who will build them?
If you want to learn more about everything discussed in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first in gadget and Apple news:
And in the era of electricity:
