Prominent artificial intelligence company OpenAI has launched a new way for developers to sell and distribute their own, custom versions of AI software through an online store, with industry participants and watchdogs saying it could change how businesses and consumers use the technology.
The GPT Store will include personalized artificial intelligence applications, and will let users discover and build versions tailored to specific topics or needs.
The store will offer custom versions of ChatGPT, created by developers who pay a subscription fee to OpenAI.
The GPT Store features custom implementations of artificial intelligence. (James Dunne/CBC)
Think of an AI bot that only exists to help with dinner recipes, or with math homework.
Or a program that uses artificial intelligence exclusively to generate “yo mama” jokes.
Jokes aside, those involved say making custom AI apps available in an app store could be revolutionary for the sector, similar to how Apple and Google changed how people interacted with mobile apps when they launched their respective app stores for phones.
“Being able to engage with an AI tool in natural language is a transformational moment in technology, and this will bring two sides of the marketplace together,” said Sonia Sennik, executive director at the University of Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab. “I think we’re going to see … ever more innovative tools that are built by folks like you and me, who can now speak to and engage with these models.”
Prof. Sonia Sennik calls the app store for custom AI programs ‘transformational.’ (Scarlet O’Neill/Submitted by Sonia Sennik)
Sennik called the new store an “avenue for accessibility,” and said having custom artificial intelligence chat bots available in a mass marketplace will help create a snowball effect, with more activity coming as users and developers are both attracted to this app store.
Opens accessibility but who is responsible?
“It’s going to give people who are not coders the capacity to start producing in the digital world without going out and hiring a software engineer,” said Gillian Hadfield, a professor of law at the University of Toronto who focuses on the safety and governance of artificial intelligence. “Wow.”
However, Hadfield said trouble looms for mass-market artificial intelligence, as laws and regulations are unclear on who is to blame when things go wrong.
For example, what if an artificial intelligence app was designed to book travel for a user — and got it wrong?
At least one Canadian legal expert is questioning who is responsible for the possible errors of a custom GPT app. (Michael Dwyer/The Associated Press)
“So who’s responsible? Is the contract valid? Can you get the money back if it bought the wrong airline ticket? I just think there’s a lot of questions around what happens to the way our whole market economy works when you have these kinds of agents out there doing stuff in the world, and when you’ve made it very open access to produce them,” said Hadfield.
Canadians already on board
The GPT Store already has multiple users, including Vancouver-based tech company Commit, which has developed a custom app to locate, research and apply to jobs on behalf of tech workers.
Greg Gunn, with Vancouver-based Commit, was on the custom AI app store right away with a tool to help tech workers automatically apply for jobs. (Submitted by Greg Gunn)
Commit co-founder Greg Gunn calls the launch of the app store an “amazing development” and looks forward to potential financial windfalls.
“OpenAI has promised to share revenues with the most popular GPTs on their platform. This means that developers like us don’t need to worry about collecting credit cards, or charging the users, or doing refunds,” said Gunn, who pointed out that the day the store launched, they had the highest number of active users on the Commit platform.
OpenAI initially delayed store
The store is OpenAI’s attempt to build on the consumer success of ChatGPT, which introduced the world to generative AI last year, drawing in users with its ability to write humanlike language.
The GPT Store will initially be rolled out to users who are on paid ChatGPT plans, OpenAI said. In the next several months, the company intends to add a way for GPT creators to monetize their personalized AIs.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, was in – then out – as the head of the tech company in late 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)
The Microsoft-backed startup announced the upcoming GPT Store in November at its first developer conference.
It was originally set to go live later that month. But in December, OpenAI delayed the launch of the GPT Store, citing in an internal memo it was continuing to “make improvements” to GPTs based on customer feedback.
The delay came against the backdrop of the surprise ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman by the company’s board, and his subsequent reinstatement when employees threatened to quit.
TORONTO – Cineplex Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year ago as it was hit by a fine for deceptive marketing practices imposed by the Competition Tribunal.
The movie theatre company says it lost $24.7 million or 39 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $29.7 million or 40 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The results in the most recent quarter included a $39.2-million provision related to the Competition Tribunal decision, which Cineplex is appealing.
The Competition Bureau accused the company of misleading theatregoers by not immediately presenting them with the full price of a movie ticket when they purchased seats online, a view the company has rejected.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $395.6 million, down from $414.5 million in the same quarter last year, while theatre attendance totalled 13.3 million for the quarter compared with nearly 15.7 million a year earlier.
Box office revenue per patron in the quarter climbed to $13.19 compared with $12 in the same quarter last year, while concession revenue per patron amounted to $9.85, up from $8.44 a year ago.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.
The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.
Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.
Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
