The maker of ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that attracted hundreds of millions of users to try it out, is preparing major updates for developers next month to make it cheaper and faster to build software applications based on its artificial intelligence models. The company hopes the new tools will encourage more companies to use its technology to develop AI-powered chatbots and autonomous agents that can perform tasks without human intervention; sources briefed on the plans told Reuters. The updates include the addition of memory storage to its developer tools for using AI models that could theoretically slash costs for application makers by as much as 20 times, addressing a complaint developers have voiced about the cost of using some of OpenAI’s most potent models, such as GPT-4.
Sources said the update is expected to be unveiled at OpenAI’s first developer conference, scheduled for November 6. It will be part of a package of features designed to attract more developers who pay to access the company’s diverse models for creating AI-powered apps and bots, including writing assistants and customer service bots. The updates also include reworking the “GPT-4” model to enable multi-modal capabilities, which allow for the processing and generation of different types of media, such as images, audio, or video, in addition to text. Other planned enhancements to the multi-modal tools include enhanced functionality such as function calling capability, improved steerability, and extended context length for the GPT-4 model.
Adding support for the AI language interpreter to GPT-4 and the vision capabilities will allow developers to create applications that can analyze and describe images, potentially with uses in industries such as entertainment or medicine. The company also aims to reduce the price for developers who use its models by offering them a discount on the fees they are charged when they train their AI-powered software.
In addition to the new tools, OpenAI will offer a developer conference to help encourage more companies to take advantage of its technology. The company is emphasizing its development and sales activities more as it shifts from the consumer sensation it became after launching ChatGPT to becoming a hit developer platform that rivals Microsoft’s new Bing or Google’s Bard, as envisioned by CEO Sam Altman.
A rework of the AI language interpreter will allow the model to understand better questions and commands that are not phrased correctly, such as when a user asks to find the best restaurant in a particular city. The tool can adjust responses accordingly, avoiding misinterpretations and providing more accurate answers.
Other planned upgrades include a visual search engine for mobile devices powered by the same technology used by the popular search engine Baidu, China’s biggest online search provider. The search app will let users ask questions and prompt the Ernie chatbot to research topics, summarise articles, and more. It will be available in the UK later this year, although all text will appear in Chinese. Launching the Baidu search feature is part of a broader effort by companies such as Apple and Google to make their products work more seamlessly together, as they have been criticized for failing to do in the past.
