ChatGPT celebrated its second birthday this weekend. OpenAI released the AI-powered chatbot on November 30th, 2022. The chatbot became an overnight sensation, with people dying to use this novel way to access knowledge.
The ChatGPT release sent Google into panic mode, and the company pivoted to genAI even harder. Since then, generative AI has been at the center of every major tech product. The iPhone 16 is the best proof of that, an iPhone series whose main selling point is Apple Intelligence, though Apple has yet to fully release its AI vision for iOS 18.
Two years later, ChatGPT is still the main AI chatbot in town and the most popular with users. You’d expect OpenAI to make a big deal about that second celebration, particularly because CEO Sam Altman teased some sort of surprise for the occasion.
However, that’s not the case. We’re not getting any surprises for ChatGPT’s second birthday. And don’t expect a GPT-5 upgrade to drop anytime soon.
I didn’t think a GPT-5 update would drop at this time of year. Multiple reports from trusted sources say that OpenAI and all the other big names in genAI software are struggling with training next-gen models. Whether it’s called GPT-5 or something else, that update might drop at some point next year.
Separately, reports said that OpenAI is working on AI Agents that will let ChatGPT control your computer. Orion is the codename for that project. But it’s an unofficial one. ChatGPT’s second birthday doesn’t come with AI Agent surprises for users.
Then again, it’s not like we should expect novel features to drop around November 30th every year. Also, this birthday dropped right in the middle of a longer Thanksgiving Day weekend, which isn’t exactly productive.
Still, given all the hype around ChatGPT, OpenAI could certainly take advantage of the chatbot’s anniversary to release a new feature. As for the holiday weekend, we’re also in the middle of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping spree. OpenAI could have released deals of its own, but it didn’t.
Let’s not forget that Sam Altman teased surprises for ChatGPT in mid-October. “Whoa, ChatGPT’s 2nd birthday is next month!” he said on X. “What should we give it for a birthday present…” he continued. We never found the answer to that.
On the other hand, even without a GPT-5 announcement, OpenAI brought many new features to ChatGPT in the past few weeks. The company updated its desktop apps, allowing the Mac version to read code directly from third-party coding apps. Advanced Voice Mode is also available on desktop and the web. Then there’s ChatGPT Search, which should roll out to more users in the future.
Finally, just a few days ago, OpenAI announced updates for the GPT-4o model:
The model’s creative writing ability has leveled up–more natural, engaging, and tailored writing to improve relevance & readability.
It’s also better at working with uploaded files, providing deeper insights & more thorough responses.
But all that doesn’t sound as exciting as a GPT-5 or Orion announcement. And it has nothing to do with ChatGPT’s birthday. Not to mention that o1 is still in preview mode.
I’ll also remind you that OpenAI’s text-to-video tool Sora briefly leaked just a few days ago, sparking another controversy for the AI firm. Was OpenAI getting ready to release it more widely, and that changed its mind? We might never know.
Will OpenAI make any big announcements in December? We’re just getting started, so we’ll have to see what comes out next.