Tech Desk 
May 11, 2024
OpenAI, the AI research lab that popularised generative AI with ChatGPT, is gearing up to unveil improvements to its flagship models. The company will hold a livestream on Monday to showcase these "Spring Updates" for both ChatGPT and GPT-4.
This announcement comes just a day before Google's annual I/O conference, where AI is expected to be a major focus. While rumours swirled about a potential OpenAI search engine to rival Google and Perplexity, a company spokesperson confirmed this won't be part of Monday's presentation.
"[We're] not launching a search product or GPT-5 on Monday," they clarified via email.
Since ChatGPT's launch in November 2022, generative AI has exploded in popularity. Companies like Adobe, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Perplexity have all jumped into the game, creating a competitive landscape for chatbots and other AI interfaces.
Read more: OpenAI gears up to take on Google search with AI-powered challenger launch
This rapid development has seen these models evolve, with some even hinting at capabilities like generating sounds and video games.
OpenAI's update focuses on ChatGPT and the underlying GPT models that power it. The upcoming livestream will detail advancements in these GPT versions, the latest being GPT-4 Turbo released six months ago.
This iteration boasts a wider range of knowledge and the ability to comprehend and generate larger chunks of text compared to its predecessors.
Prior to this, GPT-4 was introduced in March 2023 and is accessible through a $20 monthly ChatGPT Plus subscription. It leverages a staggering one trillion parameters for processing information.
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A free version, ChatGPT 3.5, utilises a smaller context window and relies on 175 billion parameters. While CNET's Imad Khan commends ChatGPT 3.5 for its user-friendliness, he advised caution, reminding users "not to take ChatGPT's answers as absolute."
The wait for GPT-5 and its capabilities continues. However, all eyes will be on OpenAI's livestream on Monday to see how they plan to push the boundaries of generative AI with their "Spring Updates."
