OpenAI Unveils App Store for Custom Chatbots
OpenAI said on Wednesday that it was opening an app store for people to share customized versions of its popular chatbot, ChatGPT, as the artificial intelligence company works to expand the reach of its flagship technology and turn it into a moneymaker.
The new store is called the GPT Store. People who spend $20 a month for a subscription to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus service can browse the store for custom chatbots that provide a wide array of services, including those that recommend books, teach mathematics and search through scientific papers.
The store will “help you find useful and popular custom versions of ChatGPT,” the company said in a blog post.
OpenAI, which was founded as a research lab, is increasingly operating as a for-profit company that aims to compete with rivals like Google. With the new store, the company hopes to turn its technology into an online platform that connects businesses and customers.
Over the last four years, Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, which has also raised money from other investors. The San Francisco start-up is in talks to complete a deal that would value it at over $80 billion.
Seasoned software developers have long used ChatGPT’s underlying technology, GPT-4, to build their own applications, including search engines and automated tutors. The app store is a way for a new audience — individuals and small businesses with no experience as software developers — to distribute apps based on the same technology.
