Hey 👋
ChatGPT is an amazing tool conversational AI tool built by Open AI. Until recently, this has been accessible exclusively via their website. But now, it’s finally happened - OpenAI just released their own ChatGPT mobile app for iPhones in the US! Having ChatGPT on the mobile phone is a great step towards making AI more accessible.
But here's the thing: there are already other apps out there, like Nack, that let you chat with AI, particularly ChatGPT, and they work on Android as well as iOS. They also work in locations outside of the US. So, what does this mean for those other apps?
Let's find out!
Accessibility
“OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.”
ChatGPT's release of its iOS mobile app is a great step towards making AI more accessible. But as we said, it's important to note that the app is currently only available for iPhone users in the US (which only accounts for about 20% of the market). This means that a vast majority of the world's population, who use Android devices or live outside the US, are unable to access the app.
This limited accessibility is a significant drawback, especially to current apps like Nack. Nack already allows users to chat with AI, particularly ChatGPT, on iOS and Android devices. Additionally, Nack is available globally and has been translated into over 20 languages. This means that more people around the world can engage with ChatGPT in a way that's convenient and accessible for them.
So ChatGPT’s iOS app is a step in the right direction, real accessibility goes beyond just releasing an app. To make AI tools like ChatGPT accessible to everyone, it needs to be available on a variety of operating systems, in a variety of languages and in a variety of countries.
Features
While OpenAI continues to work on making ChatGPT accessible to the rest of the world, the apps out there at the moment are improving. They already offer access to GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, while offering features that don’t exist within OpenAI, or have taken a different approach entirely.
For example, AI image generators let you create stunning pieces of art from simple text. Nack has incorporated this amazing feature within the chat context. It's like magic. You can bring your conversations and ideas to life in new and wonderful ways! Imagine, today, every phone that has Nack has the ability to access ChatGPT and, within the same mobile app, generate stunning images on the fly. Additionally, Nack has incorporated AI-based upscaling tools that let you enhance your image quality and make them larger simultaneously.
Additionally, when it comes to privacy, Nack has got your back! Your privacy is handled with the greatest care so that all your conversations and prompt history are kept private. Your data is never collected or stored, and it all sits on your local device. So, you can chat away with confidence, knowing that your secrets are safe and sound. Privacy is super important, and Nack understands that!
Here's the best part: Nack won't break the bank! Though ChatGPT is an amazing platform, paying $20 monthly for ChatGPT Plus might be pricey for many people. Nack offers an amazing deal. For as low as $4.99 per month, you can access GPT-4, the same AI model offered by ChatGPT’s Plus subscription. That means you can enjoy the awesome features of a more advanced model without emptying your piggy bank. 😅
So, whether you're looking for image-based tooling, more privacy, on a budget or just love a good deal, Nack is the more attractive option!
Focus and Potential Conflicts
What’s OpenAI’s main focus? As a company, they make money from two things:
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ChatGPT plus - the $20 monthly subscription that gives access to their platform; and
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Their APIs - which give other companies and developers the ability to make use of their AI models.
Right now, they’re definitely thinking about addressing their limitations with their platform. One look at OpenAI’s careers page on their website will tell you that. They’ve been hiring mobile devs, including Android developers, so it’s all in the works. The app also is limited to the US, so expanding the number of jurisdictions gives them something else to work on.
As we said, OpenAI also makes money by offering its AI service as an API. The team is constantly working on improving the underlying large language model (LLM) as well as other AI models within their toolkit. The success of ChatGPT is contingent on the underlying GPT models continuing to outperform their competitors.
Now, this does create a similar conflict that we see for Amazon, between the company and “customers”. OpenAI provides the tooling for developers and companies to build businesses while competing in the same market against them. They make money if their ChatGPT application succeeds, and they make money off the winners if they lose.
So for OpenAI, what’s their main focus? Most likely, it’s the underlying models. They may have the capacity to attempt to do everything but other teams already available globally on iOS and Android, they can focus exclusively on improving the breadth of features and the user experience of the platform while ChatGPT is trying to catch up. Therefore, the real question is whether they will prioritise building ChatGPT or focus on the underlying models - especially in the face of competition, battling in multiple markets.
Conclusion
So, in a nutshell, OpenAI's new ChatGPT app is pretty cool, but it's only for iPhones and only available in the US. There are already other apps that do similar things, and some of them, like Nack, are even better with a broader feature set and more affordable. So, it'll be interesting to see how everything plays out in the AI chatting world. Exciting times are ahead!