OpenAI Has Halted ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions Due to Surging Demand
OpenAI GPTs, the customized versions of ChatGPT that anyone can build without writing a line of software code, have caused a new surge in demand for the generative AI chatbot. However, you must have a monthly ChatGPT Plus subscription to create or use GPTs. Most companies are reluctant to turn away new paying users, but OpenAI ran out of capacity and has set up a waitlist.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, Tweeted (an X post!) late yesterday that OpenAI is pausing new ChatGPT Plus sign-ups, and the waitlist remains active as of this morning. You can see from the waitlist signup dialog box that the second benefit listed for ChatGPT Plus is “Browse, Create, and Use GPTs.” OpenAI knows what is driving demand.
GPTs More Searched Than GPT-4
Another indicator of enthusiasm surrounding GPTs can be seen in recent Google Trends data. GPTs were announced on November 6, 2023, during OpenAI’s first developer day conference. The introduction of GPT-4 Turbo and its addition to the Assistant API and ChatGPT was also announced. Since then, the search term “GPTs” has significantly exceeded “GPT-4.”
In addition, the search volume for the more specific “Create a GPT” has been comparable to the more general “GPT-4” and “What is a GPT” has far exceeded both. There may be fewer people searching for GPT-4 because they are already familiar with the term, and GPTs are a consumerish solution that should drive more volume. It is also true that the explosion of interest at the time of GPT-4’s launch in March generated more than five times the search volume of GPTs this week. However, searches for GPTs represent an interesting indicator of demand, which sheds more light on the subscription pause.
What Are GPTs
If you’ve made it this far and are wondering what GPTs are, you can get a nice overview from the OpenAI engineers leading the product in the video below. The short answer is that GPTs enable users to create custom versions of ChatGPT that can be reserved for personal use, shared directly with other ChatGPT Plus subscribers, or listed publicly. The customization is driven mostly by in-depth prompt engineering and includes the opportunity to call functions outside of ChatGPT and add a specific knowledge base.
However, a better way of thinking about GPTs is with an analogy. GPTs are to ChatGPT as apps are to the iPhone. OpenAI intends to roll out a GPTs Marketplace later this month where users can more easily find and start using GPTs from a variety of creators. The company also said it will enable monetization so GPT developers can benefit from the popularity of their creations.
If you are a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, you can check out SuperHero Me and GAIN — Real-time Generative AI News Tracker. The first creates a SuperHero backstory for you, identifies your name and archvillain, and creates an image based on a selfie. It also will challenge you with SuperHero trivia. GAIN is a service for accessing real-time generative AI news. Both have their faults in terms of latency and errors cropping up for no clear reason, but they work most of the time.
GPTs and the Market
Synthedia has been analyzing GPTs, and there are over 4,000 indexed by Google already. We believe this only represents GPTs that have been published publicly. That means the total number created is far higher. More information from our analysis will be shared this week.
However, the broader impact on the market is OpenAI’s ability to generate enthusiasm that is lacking around other large language models (LLM) in particular and carve out leadership in both consumer and business-oriented use cases. GPT-4 Turbo’s lower cost, faster performance, and larger context window have been well-received by developers. And GPTs have created a stir both among consumers and businesses.
The bottom line is OpenAI has a market share lead and is dominating in terms of mindshare. In a new market, mindshare leadership is a competitive advantage. GPTs have extended OpenAI’s mindshare lead.
And that mindshare and enthusiasm are driving more interest in individual subscriptions for ChatGPT Plus. That means OpenAI is also about to see a new revenue surge. So much for all of those critics who were skeptical about OpenAI’s ability to ever generate significant revenue.
The phrase “data is the new oil” was provocative in 2006 but may seem dated to many in 2023. There is also the question of whether it was true. Sure, data was a central asset for a privileged few. Google, Facebook, and Amazon each created multiple billion-dollar businesses on it.
LangChain has released its own open-source version of OpenAI’s GPTs. While GPTs are housed within the ChatGPT experience and currently are exclusive to Plus subscribers, anyone can build or use their own GPT-style OpenGPTs today.
