OpenAI is staying true to its promise and is finally launching its long-promised GPT Store next week. The custom chatbot store had been delayed twice before in 2023, but the company committed to launching it early in 2024, and now it is finally happening.
GPT Store launching next week – OpenAI pic.twitter.com/I6mkZKtgZG
— Manish Singh (@refsrc) January 4, 2024
The GPT Store was originally announced during OpenAI’s first developer conference in November 2023. The store is meant to be a marketplace for custom GPTs created by ChatGPT users. It will provide builders with a platform to advertise their custom GPTs and browse other builders’ creations. OpenAI said that it would also highlight the best chatbots on the GPT Store.
Custom chatbots are quite easy to make and do not require any coding knowledge. By simply inputting their desired functionalities in straightforward language, builders can prompt this tool to construct an AI-powered chatbot tailored to those specifications.
Following DevDay, there has been a significant update: developers can not only create but also share their unique GPTs with others through the ChatGPT website. However, these GPTs are not available for public listing as of yet.
The company had committed to launch the GPT Store by the end of November 2023, but soon after the company’s DevDay conference, OpenAI’s board abruptly removed CEO Sam Altman from the board as well as the company. This delayed the launch once again to December.
But just ahead of its promised December launch, OpenAI announced another delay, claiming that “a few unexpected things have been keeping us busy.” Through an email sent to users who had signed up for the GPT Store, OpenAI announced that it has also been making improvements to the store and has been incorporating user feedback such as uploaded files, one-click testing, multiple domains, and more.
The AI startup promised “great updates” for ChatGPT during the meantime, not to mention it had also rolled out a brand new feature for the chatbot for free shortly after the CEO drama. This enabled voice commands in the free version of ChatGPT and voice output as well.
It is unclear whether the GPT Store will launch with a revenue-sharing scheme similar to the smartphone app store, but more should be revealed during the official launch next week.
