OpenAI's true ambition isn't about chabots. It's about a 'super app'

"An email that OpenAI sent me on November 28, 2022-just two days before ChatGPT came to market and kicked off a trillion-dollar, multiyear, economy-distending AI scramble-didn't even mention the new interface. Rather, it bragged about the company's then-revolutionary "DaVinci" model and how it could "deliver clearer, more engaging, and more compelling content" and allow developers to "take on tasks that would have previously been too difficult to achieve."

"From the breathless tone of the email, it was clear that OpenAI had bigger ambitions than creating a text-based tool to help you argue with your insurance company or write KPop Demon Hunters fanfics. As Nick Turley, OpenAI's head of product, admitted this week, the company "got a little sidetracked" by ChatGPT. Now OpenAI's true ambitions are becoming increasingly clear. In Turley's words, OpenAI "never meant to build a chatbot." Instead, the company always planned "to build a super assistant." And that's exactly what it's now doing."

"If you want to post to social media, though, you're likely to reach for Instagram, TikTok, or-perhaps steeling yourself for the possibility of encountering MechaHitler -X. Need to bank? Open up the crappy app for your local bank branch with the UI from 2012, and hope for the best. Buying something? There's Amazon, Instacart, and DoorDash for that."

OpenAI was caught off guard by ChatGPT's rapid consumer adoption after focusing on the DaVinci GPT-3 model prior to the chatbot's launch. Internal communication from November 28, 2022 highlighted DaVinci's ability to deliver clearer, more engaging content and enable developers to tackle previously difficult tasks. Company leadership acknowledged that ChatGPT derailed initial plans but clarified that the long-term goal is to build a "super assistant" rather than a simple chatbot. U.S. app usage remains highly fragmented across specialized services for information, social media, banking, shopping, and real estate, creating opportunities for integrated AI assistants to centralize multiple functions.

Read at Fast Company