In a recent announcement on X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, addressed the challenges faced by ChatGPT due to a surge in usage following the DevDay developers conference. The overwhelming demand has led to capacity issues, prompting OpenAI to temporarily halt signups for ChatGPT Plus. This strategic move is aimed at resolving the challenges and ensuring a high-quality user experience for existing subscribers.
During this temporary pause in signups, the subscription service, which includes features like the new GPT-4 Turbo and custom GPTs, will be put on hold. Despite this, users interested in ChatGPT Plus can still stay informed about the reopening of subscriptions by signing up within the app. This proactive approach ensures that users can promptly access the enhanced features of ChatGPT Plus when availability resumes.
Sam Altman shared this decision on X, stating, “We are pausing new ChatGPT Plus sign-ups for a bit. The surge in usage post DevDay has exceeded our capacity, and we want to make sure everyone has a great experience. You can still sign up to be notified within the app when subs reopen.”
The recent surge in demand can be directly attributed to the introduction of Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs) at OpenAI's DevDay 2023. These revolutionary models have been leveraged by developers and companies for various purposes, including graphic design on platforms like Canva. The DevDay conference showcased GPTs that empower users to effortlessly build their own models without the need for coding, resulting in an impressive availability of over 5,000 GPTs currently.
However, OpenAI has encountered challenges that extend beyond capacity issues. Recent periodic outages in ChatGPT raised concerns of a potential Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The source and motive behind this attack are currently under investigation.
Following the successful release of GPT-4 Turbo, OpenAI is quietly working on the development of GPT-5. Altman revealed that the training process for GPT-5 will necessitate a significant increase in data volume, drawn from a combination of publicly accessible datasets on the internet and exclusive datasets from private companies.
While GPT-5 is anticipated to be more sophisticated than its predecessors, Altman acknowledged the difficulty in predicting its exact capabilities and skills. In addition to focusing on technical advancements, OpenAI is planning to seek additional financial support from its major investor, Microsoft, to realize its ambitious vision of achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). This signifies OpenAI's commitment to pushing the boundaries of AI innovation and paving the way for future advancements in the field.
