The World of Statistics compared the growth of ChatGPT with other technological inventions such as WhatsApp, Mobile phones, the internet, etc.

It revealed that it took 16 years for mobile phones to reach 100 million users worldwide. Whereas, the telephone reached 100 million users in 75 years. WhatsApp gained 100 million users in 3.5 years, Facebook (4.5 years), Instagram (2.5 years), Twitter (5 years), World Wide Web (seven years), Apple App Store ( 2 years), and iTunes (6.5) years, respectively.

Chinese video-making app TikTok took about nine months after its global launch to reach 100 million users.

Recently UBS study also revealed that an average of 13 million unique visitors had used ChatGPT per day in January, more than double the level in December.

ChatGPT can generate articles, essays, jokes, and even poetry in response to prompts. OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft Corp, made it available to the public for free in late November.

Last month, OpenAI announced a $20 monthly subscription, initially for users in the United States only.

The chatbot’s ability to spout everything from writing an email to authentic-seeming exam answers has since catapulted it into the spotlight. While the AI service sometimes confidently offers incorrect information, some analysts and experts have suggested its ability to summarise publicly available data can make it a credible alternative to Google search and a list of search-generated links.

What is ChatGPT?

San Francisco-based OpenAI made its latest creation, the ChatGPT chatbot in November 2022. A chatbot is a software application designed to mimic human-like conversations based on user prompts.

WHO OWNS OPENAI?

OpenAI, a research and development firm, was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by Silicon Valley investor Sam Altman and billionaire Elon Musk and attracted funding from several others, including venture capitalist Peter Thiel. In 2019, the group created a related for-profit entity to take in outside investment.

Musk, who remains engulfed in his overhaul of social networking firm Twitter, left OpenAI’s board in 2018, but chimed in with his take on the viral phenomenon, calling it “scary good”.

Musk later tweeted that he was pausing OpenAI’s access to Twitter’s database.

HOW OPENAI WORKS

OpenAI states that their ChatGPT model, trained using a machine learning technique called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), can simulate dialogue, answer follow-up questions, admit mistakes, and reject inappropriate requests.

IS IT PROBLEMATIC?

As with many AI-driven innovations, ChatGPT does not come without misgivings. OpenAI has acknowledged the tool’s tendency to respond with “plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers”, an issue it considers challenging to fix.

AI technology can also perpetuate societal biases like those around race, gender, and culture. Despite these concerns, AI research remains attractive. Venture capital investment in AI development and operations companies rose to nearly $13 billion in 2021.