What happens when an unexpectedly powerful technology becomes an overnight sensation, quickly making its way into schools, businesses, and the dark corners of the web, with few laws or social norms to guide it? It’s the story of ChatGPT, which has now been answering our questions (with a few hallucinations along the way) for a year.
OpenAI’s chatbot has dominated tech headlines since its Nov. 30, 2022, debut. Two months in, it was the fastest growing app of all time, lighting a fire under dozens of competitors and catching the eyes of investors, regulators, and copyright holders alike.
Its impact was on full display earlier this month after the shock dismissal of Sam Altman. Tech CEOs come and go, but OpenAI had become a big enough player for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to get involved and for OpenAI employees to threaten mass resignations unless Altman returned. He was quickly reinstated.