What’s ChatGPT? The AI Pure Language Processing Instrument Defined – Decrypt

Has ChatGPT ever not been within the information since its launch in November 2022? The dominant identify in generative AI, the corporate has greater than 300 million weekly customers and has taken the world by storm, producing each pleasure for the long run and concern.

After the discharge of GPT-3 to most people, know-how specialists and policymakers sounded the alarm about AI misuse.

On this article, we’ll discover the historical past and know-how behind ChatGPT.

What’s ChatGPT?

Developed by San Francisco-based OpenAI, ChatGPT is an AI system designed to grasp and generate conversational dialogue. The identify “ChatGPT” refers to Generative Pre-training Transformer, a machine studying strategy that allows the AI to course of and generate human-sounding textual content.

Since ChatGPT’s public launch in 2022, competitors in AI has intensified, with main firms, together with Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, and Google, shifting focus to synthetic intelligence.

Who created ChatGPT?

OpenAI, the corporate behind ChatGPT, has modified considerably since its founding in 2015 by Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, and others as a non-profit synthetic intelligence analysis lab that goals to make sure that synthetic common intelligence advantages all of humanity when it arrives.

In 2019, OpenAI shifted to a “capped-profit” mannequin to draw funding and scale its AI analysis. Since then, the AI developer has accomplished 5 main funding rounds, totaling over $49 billion. Now one of the vital precious AI firms on the planet, OpenAI’s fast growth has fueled tensions between Musk and Altman.

Musk has taken credit score for creating OpenAI and accused OpenAI of straying from its mission, whereas Altman has referred to as him “a bully.” In August 2024, Musk sued OpenAI and Altman, alleging fraud. He argued that his $44 million funding was primarily based on the understanding that OpenAI would stay a non-profit however that Altman had secretly deliberate to transition it right into a for-profit firm.

The rivalry between Musk and Altman escalated in February 2025 when a Musk-led group supplied to purchase OpenAI for $97 billion. As OpenAI strikes additional into the company sphere, the battle over AI’s future—and who controls it—continues to accentuate.

How does ChatGPT work?

ChatGPT works by predicting the almost definitely subsequent phrases in a dialog primarily based on patterns discovered from huge quantities of knowledge. It processes what you kind, understands the context, and generates a pure and related response.

It doesn’t assume or have opinions—it makes use of chances to create coherent replies. The extra context it has, the higher it could possibly refine its solutions, making interactions with it really feel like an actual dialog.

Key options of GPT fashions

• Transformer Structure: Not like older Recurrent Neural Community fashions that course of phrases one by one, GPT’s transformer design analyzes whole sentences without delay, making it sooner and extra environment friendly.
• Self-Supervised Studying: GPT fashions train themselves language by predicting lacking phrases in huge datasets—no human labeling required.
• High-quality-Tuning for Particular Duties: After pre-training, fashions will be refined for chatbots, translation, code technology, sentiment evaluation, and extra.
• Few-Shot Studying: GPT can adapt to new duties, studying from just some examples.

These features are essential as a result of they make GPT fashions quick, adaptable, and environment friendly for numerous functions.

Timeline of OpenAI and ChatGPT

• December 2015 – OpenAI is based as a not for revenue firm.
• July 2018 – OpenAI releases GPT-1.
• February 2019 – GPT-2 is launched however initially withheld resulting from issues about misuse.
• March 2019 – Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI, valuing the corporate on the similar quantity.
• Could 2020 – GPT-3 is launched, considerably enhancing textual content technology.
• November 2022  – ChatGPT is launched to the general public and rapidly turns into a sensation.
• December 2022 – ChatGPT reaches 1 million customers.
• January 2023 – Microsoft invests one other $10 billion in OpenAI, valuing the corporate at $29 billion. ChatGPT crosses 100 million month-to-month energetic customers.
• March 2023 – GPT-4 debuts, enhancing accuracy and reasoning.
• November 2023 –  The OpenAI Board fires CEO Sam Altman for not being “Constantly Candid.” Altman was rehired every week later.
• Could 2024 – OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a multimodal AI mannequin with improved pace and capabilities.
• June 2024 – Apple faucets OpenAI to convey AI improve to Siri. That very same month Altman stated OpenAI is contemplating switching to a for-profit mannequin.
• September 2024 – OpenAI launches the o1 mannequin with enhanced reasoning capabilities and multimodal help.
• October 2024 – OpenAI closed one other funding spherical of $6.6 billion, bringing the corporate’s valuation to $157 billion.
• December 2024 – OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT’s video capabilities
• January 2025 – OpenAI launches Operator, an AI assistant that may carry out real-world duties.
• February 2025 – Elon Musk leads a consortium in an try to purchase OpenAI. That very same month, OpenAI releases GPT-4.5, which Altman describes as a “large, costly mannequin.”

How is ChatGPT used?

ChatGPT has expanded past text-based responses and now contains a number of highly effective multimodal capabilities:

• ✍️ Textual content Era & Summarization – Creates articles, stories, scripts, summaries, and extra.
• 🎨 Picture Creation (DALL·E Integration) – Generates AI-created photographs primarily based on textual content descriptions, modifies current photographs, and creates variations.
• 👨‍💻 Code Era and Debugging – Writes, explains, and fixes code in a number of programming languages.
• 📃 Doc and Knowledge Evaluation – Processes PDFs, spreadsheets, and different paperwork for insights and knowledge extraction.
• 🧮 Mathematical and Scientific Computing – Solves advanced math and science issues, operating Python code for evaluation.
• 📊 Chart and Graph Creation – Visualizes knowledge via charts and graphs.

Whereas not a characteristic of ChatGPT itself, OpenAI has given customers entry to its highly effective video generator mannequin, Sora. The corporate launched Sora in beta in February 2024 and made it publicly obtainable in December 2024.

What are the restrictions of ChatGPT?

Whereas ChatGPT is a robust AI software, it has a number of limitations:

• Potential for incorrect info – It might present deceptive or inaccurate solutions, also referred to as hallucinations, particularly on advanced subjects.
• Context retention points – It struggles with sustaining lengthy conversations, generally shedding monitor of particulars.
• Bias in responses – Its solutions can mirror biases in its coaching knowledge.

In April 2023, in an instance of a hallucination episode, ChatGPT accused Jonathan Turley, a outstanding legislation professor, of committing sexual assault—a very fabricated declare. Making issues worse, ChatGPT generated a pretend Washington Submit article hyperlink to help its declare.

How a lot does ChatGPT value?

Whereas ChatGPT is free to make use of, a subscription is required to entry extra superior instruments, resembling Sora, creating customized GPTs, and voice modes.

Tiers embody:

• $20 month-to-month for a ChatGPT Plus subscription
• $200 month for a ChatGPT Professional subscription

The costlier Professional subscription contains prolonged entry to Sora (OpenAI’s text-to-video AI generator), limitless entry to superior voices, and limitless entry to all of OpenAI’s reasoning fashions.

The way forward for ChatGPT

Sam Altman has repeatedly claimed that Synthetic Common Intelligence is on the close to horizon. With the Trump administration investing $500 billion in AI growth, it could be nearer than we predict.

Nevertheless, the guarantees of GPT-5, which many suspect would be the mannequin that unlocks AGI, have but to come back to fruition.

In February 2025, Altman unveiled an up to date roadmap to streamline OpenAI’s product lineup, merging its scattered AI fashions right into a single unified system. Step one got here later that month, with the discharge of GPT-4.5, which Altman billed as a “completely different type of intelligence,” whereas conceding that it was a “large, costly mannequin.”

As OpenAI continues to develop ChatGPT, extra rivals are coming on-line to problem the businesses’ dominance. In January, China-based hedge fund Excessive-Flyer Quantitative Funding Administration launched the free and open-source DeepSeek R1, which despatched shockwaves via the AI business, claiming that its mannequin matched ChatGPT’s efficiency whereas costing a fraction of what American firms spend on AI growth.

After DeepSeek despatched tech shares right into a tailspin, Musk supplied to purchase OpenAI for $97 billion. Altman declined the provide and as an alternative supplied to purchase Twitter for $9.74 billion.

In the meantime, Altman is satisfied that AGI is coming and that OpenAI and ChatGPT will likely be driving it.

“Sit up for bringing you all AGI and past,” he tweeted in January 2025.