OpenAI launches GPT store to help users customise chatbots

The company plans to launch a new GPT builder revenue programme in the first quarter

OpenAI's new ChatGPT Store has more than 3 million custom versions of GPTs. AP

OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, has launched a new online store that it says will help users customise their chatbots powered by the generative artificial intelligence platform and allow them to earn money.

The ChatGPT Store gives access to more than three million custom versions of GPTs, or generative pre-trained transformers, developed by OpenAI's partners and its community, the company said on Wednesday.

GPTs are models used by generative AI applications to create humanlike text and content, such as images, videos, music and more, and conversationally answer questions.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI began rolling out GPTs last November. The new store will operate similarly to the Apple App Store and Google Play, wherein users can browse for apps by category.

These categories include GPTs for writing, research, programming, education and lifestyle, as well as Dall-E, OpenAI's deep-learning text-to-image model used to generate images from natural language descriptions.

“The store features a diverse range of GPTs developed by our partners and the community … many builders have shared their GPTs for others to use,” OpenAI said.

OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Team, a smaller version of ChatGPT Enterprise, the company's first paid business tier that was launched in August.

ChatGPT Team is described as a customised, “always-improving super assistant”, that can “better code, craft emails, analyse data and anything else”.

The ChatGPT Store was to be launched in November. However, this was pushed to early 2024 after the company said that "unexpected things” had arisen.

Following the delay, OpenAI was engulfed in a corporate drama when Sam Altman, who had served as chief executive since 2019, was first fired and then reinstated. The initial situation led to an employee revolt and widespread threats of resignations unless Mr Altman returned.

OpenAI has also revealed a new “GPT builder revenue programme”, due to be started in the first quarter of 2024, through which developers can potentially earn from their work.

However, it is unclear how the revenue model will work.

“As a first step, US builders will be paid based on user engagement with their GPTs. We'll provide details on the criteria for payments as we get closer,” it said.

AI gained momentum – and jolted regulators – with the introduction of generative AI, which rose to prominence thanks to ChatGPT.

Its sudden rise has also raised questions about how data is used in AI models and how the law applies to the output of those models, such as a paragraph of text, a computer-generated image, or videos.

OpenAI stressed that it has established a review system, in addition to the existing safety measures built into its products.

It told users to “please review our latest usage policies and GPT brand guidelines to ensure your GPT is compliant … the review process includes both human and automated review”.