Disruptive technologies create a new basis of competition in markets, orthogonal to anything that is currently in existence. They do not just meet the needs of customers, they go beyond their expectations and serve their perceptions. In other words, you might not have imagined or anticipated them, but the day you see the products, you will like them. Indeed, they turn customers into fans.
In the Harvard Business Review, I explained it this way: “Apple and Diamond were disruptive in their respective markets. Their offerings are quite different, but they have one similar characteristic: they pursue Customer Perception….While expectation can help you stay in the game, top firms meet the perception of customers.” Yes, Apple and Diamond Bank DIBS were at that level.
Today, ChatGPT is the reigning category-king. It has locked 100 million users in two months: “ChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot, has reached 100 million users just two months after launching, according to analysts. It had about 590m visits in January from 100 million unique visitors, according to analysis by data firm Similarweb.” That is a world-record, and Guinness Book of records will need to update a file.
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ChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot, has reached 100 million users just two months after launching, according to analysts.
It had about 590m visits in January from 100 million unique visitors, according to analysis by data firm Similarweb. Analysts at investment bank UBS said the rate of growth was unprecedented for a consumer app.
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“In 20 years following the internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app,” UBS analysts wrote in the note, reported by Reuters.
By comparison it took TikTok about nine months after its global launch to reach 100 million users and Instagram more than two years, according to data from Sensor Tower, an app analysis firm.
ChatGPT can generate articles, essays, jokes, poetry and job applications in response to text prompts. OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft, made it available to the public for free in late November.
OpenAI also developed the AI-powered image generator Dall-E and is at the forefront of generative AI, or technology trained on vast amounts of text and images that can create content from a simple text prompt.
On Thursday, OpenAI announced a $20 monthly subscription, initially for users in the United States only. It would provide a more stable and faster service as well as the opportunity to try new features first, the company said.
Analysts believe the viral launch of ChatGPT will give OpenAI a first-mover advantage against other AI companies. The growing usage, while imposing substantial computing cost on OpenAI, has also provided valuable feedback to help train the chatbot’s responses.
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OpenAI, which is based in San Francisco, said the subscription revenue would help cover the computing cost.
The Guardian contacted OpenAI for comment but did not receive a reply before publication.
Last month, Microsoft announced another multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI in the form of cash and provision of cloud computing. On Wednesday Microsoft launched a premium version of its Teams product backed by ChatGPT, offering AI-powered extras such as automatically generated meeting notes. The tool also divides recaps of meetings into sections, based on the meeting transcript.
Google is not sleeping on this emerging redesign and is responding: “Google has invested $300 million into an OpenAI and ChatGPT rival, officially joining the race to create the best generative AI. The tech giant is taking a 10% stake in Anthropic and its AI model Claude, The Financial Times reports. Anthropic’s short history is full of big players — former OpenAI researchers founded the startup in 2021 and raised $580 million in funding last April, mostly from the now disgraced FTX. Google’s announcement comes weeks after Microsoft, LinkedIn’s parent company, invested $10 billion into OpenAI.”
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Good one. Keep it come Prof.