Have you recently heard of ChatGPT, the extremely powerful language model that’s taking the world by storm?
Although you’d think it were created by a major tech company like Google, Microsoft or Apple, this isn’t actually the case!
In fact, it was actually created by a smaller company most people have never heard of.
So, who owns ChatGPT, and how are the tech giants responding?
In this article, we’ll cover all of that and more!
Who Owns ChatGPT?
Currently, ChatGPT is owned by a company called OpenAI, which was started by Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
Sam Altman is currently running the company as CEO, where as Elon Musk no longer work at OpenAI in any capacity.
OpenAI was formed in 2015 with the goal to research artificial intelligence, to assure that it would be developed in a way that benefits humanity as a whole.
While OpenAI has arguably diverted away from its original mission, there is no doubt they’ve been a leader when it comes to many artificial intelligence developments.
In fact, while ChatGPT is their most powerful language model yet, they’ve already released quite a number of other projects, including GPT-1, GPT-2, GPT-3, DALL-E, DALL-E 2, CLIP, and several others.
So, What Is Microsoft’s Connection To This?
Microsoft has announced a strong partnership with OpenAI, to the tune of an additional 10 billion dollars. This is in addition to the $1 billion that Microsoft invested in 2019.
While ChatGPT is owned by OpenAI, this $10 billion partnership will have Microsoft assuming a 49% in stake in OpenAI, after they have recouped their investment.
Currently, Microsoft is set to receive 75% of OpenAI’s profits until the investment has been repaid in full.
What’s important to keep in mind here is that OpenAI are not the only ones developing large language models.
Microsoft does not have the same teams in place that Google has with their AI division, and acquiring a stake in OpenAI is a quick way for them to be competitive in this area.
Considering that language models like ChatGPT have the opportunity to shift the internet forever, it makes sense why they’d want to secure a stake!
Does Elon Musk Have Any Ownership In ChatGPT?
Due to Elon Musk’s involvement and commentary on artificial intelligence, many people have wondered if ChatGPT has any ties to them – or Elon owns any of the company involved with the creation of ChatGPT.
And the answer is, not anymore!
Elon Musk was sitting on the board of directors for OpenAI up until 2018, when he resigned due to conflicts of interest. It was said that he didn’t agree with certain decisions the company was making, and he didn’t have enough time to be heavily involved with the firm.
Not surprising, as I just learned that OpenAI had access to Twitter database for training. I put that on pause for now.
Need to understand more about governance structure & revenue plans going forward.
OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 4, 2022
While Elon has stated that he’d continue donating to OpenAI to help them further their mission, he has been critical of the company in recent months.
As his tweet alludes to above, OpenAI has strayed from their original mission, warranting criticism from Elon and others in the AI community.
Conclusion
ChatGPT is owned by OpenAI, though Microsoft has recently announced a partnership that would give them a 49% stake in the company.
Although OpenAI was founded with Elon Musk on the board of directors, he no longer has any connection to the company.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful, and that it’s answered your questions.
If you have any other questions about ChatGPT, ask them below and I’ll be happy to help.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister
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