OpenAI releases GPT-4 for paid users and talks up ‘human-level’ abilities

Article by Jacob Bourne | Mar 15, 2023

The news: On Tuesday, OpenAI released GPT-4, a large multimodal AI model that surpasses its predecessor, GPT-3.5, in capabilities.

The model can accept text and image inputs and spit out generative text with “human-level performance,” OpenAI says, per Ars Technica.
The startup also claims that the model passed a simulated bar exam, scoring around the top 10% of test takers, compared with GPT-3.5, which scored in the bottom 10%.
In addition to the new functionality of describing images in detail, GPT-4 is more precise, has higher accuracy, can accurately summarize an article, and can exhibit humor, per The New York Times.
The upgraded model is available via ChatGPT Plus, and its API has a waitlist.

We’ve met GPT-4 before: Alongside the release, Microsoft disclosed that its Bing AI chatbot is based on GPT-4.

Reviewing the success and pitfalls of Bing AI’s debut gives some indication of GPT-4’s capabilities.
We can expect GPT-4 to at times present fiction as fact, struggle with current events, and be unpredictable.
The revelation shows that increasing model complexity alone won’t solve all of generative AI’s problems and could make some issues worse.

What this means for Google: The upgrade coming mere months after ChatGPT emerged could be a sign that we’ll see steady commercial releases of increasingly sophisticated generative AI models.

Google hasn’t released its Bard, yet it’s now talking about its more powerful Big Bard, likely as a result of pressure to show that it’s working on something impressive.
GPT-4’s functionality means Google has to play catch-up again and give Big Bard multimodal features that surpass GPT-4 capabilities.
The challenge for Google is to hit a bullseye in its release of a model that will offer more than the competition and that doesn’t embarrass the company.