Published on the 19/01/2023 | Written by Heather Wright

Monetising the AI chatbot we’re all playing with…

OpenAI is piloting a premium version of its AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, amid rumours of more investment from Microsoft and the integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft applications, including Word and Outlook.

The chatbot, which can converse in a more natural, convincing manner than previous chatbots, has become this summer’s big craze as apparently everyone takes a turn at asking it to write essays, speeches, songs ‘in the style of’ (more about that, and the ire it’s raised later) or, more seriously, to code.

Launched in November, ChatGPT (generative pretrained transformer) hit the ground running, quickly racking up one million users according to developer OpenAI, founded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk among others, in 2015. Musk has since left the company.

“Monetisation is one way we’re considering to ensure its long-term viability.”

It’s a natural language processing model using a large language model, similar to the Google technology which saw one Google engineer claiming sentience last year.

In a Discord post, OpenAI – which also created AI art generator DallE – says its goal is to continue improving and maintaining the service ‘and monetisation is one way we’re considering to ensure its long-term viability’.

The post does, however, also note that plans are still in the very early thinking stage, with ‘nothing official to share yet’.

A waitlist sign up says ChatGPT Professional will come with promises of no throttling, leading to faster responses, have ‘as many messages as you need – at least twice the regular daily message limit’, and always be available.

Reports say Microsoft has been experimenting with including OpenAI’s language AI into its suite of apps, including Word, Outlook and Powerpoint. The Information says an unknown version of OpenAI’s GPT model has already been included in Word’s autocomplete, with the company looking to extend that use further.

Microsoft did this week announce general availability of its Azure OpenAI service, which allows businesses to integrate tools such as DallE, GPT-3.5 (a text-generating AI model) and Codex, into their own cloud apps. ChatGPT will be added ‘soon’ Microsoft says.

But ChatGPT has also attracted plenty of controversy.

With its ability to come up with unique wording even when asked the same question, it’s proving a headache for educators. Others have expressed concern that students will fail to learn research and critical thinking skills, and some US schools have already banned it on student’s devices.

McKinsey too, has issued a caution, noting that ChatGPT sometimes ‘hallucinates’ – meaning it confidently generates entirely inaccurate information to questions and has no built-in mechanism to signal this to the user or challenge the result. (OpenAI itself warns that the chatbot can give wrong answers.”

It’s also spurred further debate around moral issues, biases and IP and whether AI and automation – and ChatGPT in particular – might take our jobs.

Ask ChatGPT what jobs are most at risk of being replaced by AI and it will tell you that it’s those that involve repetitive or predictable tasks, such as data entry or analysis, customer service and certain types of manufacturing. 

“It’s also worth noting that some jobs may not be fully replaced but will be significantly changed by the implementation of AI in the workplace. Human workers may need to re-skill themselves in order to work alongside AI and be able to perform more complex tasks that AI can’t do.” (You can read the full response at the bottom of this story.) 

Meanwhile, singer Nick Cave’s response to ChatGPT’s attempts – at the request of ‘Mark from Christchurch, New Zealand – to create lyrics in Cave’s style, garnered plenty of attention. 

He reacted furiously, saying ‘The apocalypse is well on its way. This song sucks.’ 

“I understand that ChatGPT is in its infancy, but perhaps that is the emerging horror of AI – that it will forever be in its infancy, as it will always have further to go, and the direction is always forward, always faster. It can never be rolled back, or slowed down, as it moves us toward a utopian future, maybe, or our total destruction.” 

From fun and games to monetisation 

The hype OpenAI has generated around ChatGPT  is one thing. While ChatGPT, like DallE, is fun to play with, turning that into revenue, is another thing altogether. 

Plenty of analysts however, are expecting there to be interest in the professional version of the offering.  

Despite its cautions, McKinsey says generative AI like ChatGPT promises to make 2023 one of the most exciting years yet for AI. It says uses including personalised marketing, social media and technical sales content; writing, documenting and reviewing code; answering complex risk and legal questions, pulling from vast amounts of legal documentation and drafting and reviewing annual reports; and generating tasks lists for efficient execution of given activities, are already being seen.  

“But as with every new technology, business leaders must proceed with eyes wide open, because the technology today presents many ethical and practical challenges.”  

The waitlist document for ChatGPT Professional includes questions around pricing, such as what price per month users would consider it to be ‘so expensive that you would not consider buying it?’

That’s no doubt a critical question for an organisation into which more than $1 billion has been pumped and which expects to make $200 million this year – and is aiming for $1 billion by 2024.

Hosted in Microsoft’s Azure Cloud, ChatGPT isn’t cheap to run – even ‘regular’ sized language models are often regarded as too expensive to deploy into production for many use cases.

In a December tweet OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the estimated average cost per chat was ‘probably single-digit cents’ – but a few cents per chat in total computing costs adds up and he’s noted that the operating expenses are ‘quite eye-watering’.

Reports have been circulating that Microsoft is considering investing US$10 billion, as part of a group of investors, into OpenAI. The move would push OpenAI’s value to US$29 billion, according to Semafor. Microsoft is already an investor and long term partner for OpenAI, having sunk US$1 billion in cash and cloud credits into the company back in 2019.

The new deal would apparently see Microsoft receiving 75 percent of OpenAI’s profits until it recouped its investment. If true, that’s no doubt good incentive for the sudden push to monetise the offering.

Putting ChatGPT to the test 

So just how good are ChatGPT’s responses? iStart tried out a few simple questions around AI, with the answers in full below so you can be the judge:

Q: Which jobs are most at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence?
A: Jobs that are most at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) tend to be those that involve repetitive or predictable tasks, such as data entry or analysis, customer service, and certain types of manufacturing. Some specific examples include: 

• Bookkeeping, accounting, and financial analysis: AI can process large amounts of financial data quickly and accurately, making it capable of performing many tasks that are currently done by human accountants. 
• Manufacturing and assembly line work: Robotics and AI can work together to automate the assembly of products, reducing the need for human labor. 
• Telemarketing and customer service: AI-powered chatbots are able to handle simple customer service queries, which can reduce the need for human agents. 
• Transcription and translation: AI-powered software can transcribe and translate speech and written text, reducing the need for human transcribers and translators. 
  
  It’s also worth noting that some jobs may not be fully replaced but will be significantly changed by the implementation of AI in the workplace. Human workers may need to re-skill themselves in order to work alongside AI and be able to perform more complex tasks that AI can’t do. 
  
  Q: Will Heather Wright lose her job because of Chat GPT?
  A: I am an AI model and I do not have information about specific people and their jobs, but in general, the implementation of AI can lead to some jobs being automated or replaced by technology. However, it’s also worth noting that AI can also create new job opportunities and enhance productivity in many fields.
  It’s hard to say whether Heather Wright specifically will lose her job because of my existance, but it’s important for people to be aware of the potential changes that AI can bring to the workforce and prepare for them by developing new skills or looking for new career opportunities.