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> When average people are asked to reach for AI, they reach for ChatGPT. No, average people are nowhere near that tech-savvy. Just because every mom in the 90s
by kibwen 1y ago
> When average people are asked to reach for AI, they reach for ChatGPT.
No, average people are nowhere near that tech-savvy. Just because every mom in the 90s called every video game console a "Nintendo" did not mean that Sony didn't mop the floor with Nintendo in that era. This isn't brand loyalty, it's brand genericity. Other than, say, Replika-style users who have formed an emotional bond with a certain style of chatbot, no average joe on the planet gives a damn whether the LLM powering their chat is provided by OpenAI or Google or etc. They'll use whatever's in front of them and most convenient, and unlike Google, Apple, or Microsoft, OpenAI doesn't own the platform that establishes the crucial defaults that nearly no user ever changes.
- famouswaffles 1y agoExcept Open AI happen to be the Sony in this case. 700M Weekly active users and the 5th most visited site on the planet, with no-one else close. I mean, it's pretty clear this is less 'Nintendo' and more 'Google'.
- ath3nd 1y agoIf Google was massively unprofitable and with no profitability path in sight, yeah, that's very much Google.
- famouswaffles 1y agoGoogle was unprofitable for some time yes. I don't understand the obsession with the 'no profitability path in sight'. It's nonsensical. Their reported loss numbers are really low for a service with that many users. Open AI don't have to do a lot to be profitable, ads would be enough.
- ath3nd 1y ago> Open AI don't have to do a lot to be profitable, ads would be enough. Yeah man, absolutely! Ads can pay for all of it! > It's nonsensical Yep, wanting a business to be profitable before investing in it, or at least to show that it could be profitable by providing a plan and timeline to profitability, is too much to ask for nowadays. Of course companies can be successful and great without any clear path to profitability, hype and enthusiasm are enough, just look at the great success of WeWork and Adam Neumann! Who are we to doubt that? Just keep repeatedly giving couple of trillions to Sama and all will be okay, AGI is just behind the corner, trust him bro.
- famouswaffles 1y agoOpenAI reportedly made a loss of $5B in 2024. By 2024's end they had ~300M WAUs, most of them free and not monetized in any way whatsoever. To be profitable, they'd need to monetize those free users for an average of $17/year or $1.5/month. Do you realize how low that is ? Yes, ads even implemented in an uninspiring fashion would more than cover that. With some thought into it ? Well, You don't need to be a genius to see the potential of directly weaving paid recommendations naturally into conversations when appropriate.
- kibwen 1y agoThis isn't a rebuttal to any of the above criticisms. You appear to have completely misunderstood the existential risks that OpenAI faces here.
- famouswaffles 1y agoWell you call this instance brand genericity instead of brand loyalty and hinge your argument on a past situation that doesn't really have any resemblance to this one. Gemini is a google default so why isn't it used anywhere near a much as chatGPT ? Meta has stuffed their llama model into Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook and god knows what so why isn't it used anywhere near as much as chatGPT ? In all the time these players pushed their apps and models to their billions of users, chatGPT's userbase has been growing massively. Clearly people do care about using chatGPT and specifically chatGPT and what would be the 'existential crisis' by the incumbent players has come and gone, with Open AI unscathed.