OpenAI’s Spring Update: Anticipating the Next Big Thing in AI

The world of artificial intelligence is abuzz with anticipation. Today marks a significant milestone as OpenAI, the pioneering organization in generative AI technology, is poised to announce substantial updates to its renowned chatbot, ChatGPT, and the powerful GPT-4 large language model (LLM) that fuels it.

OpenAI’s Spring Update: The When and Where

The Spring Update event is scheduled to commence at 10 am Pacific / 1 pm Eastern Time. The event will be broadcast live on OpenAI’s official website and YouTube channel. As of this writing, over 5,000 viewers are eagerly awaiting the start of the event.

Interestingly, the YouTube stream is set to begin an hour earlier, at 9 am PT/12 pm ET. However, the actual presentations and content are not expected to start until an hour later.

What to Expect from the OpenAI Spring Update

In the weeks leading up to the event, there has been a whirlwind of reports and rumors. One such rumor, sparked by a Reuters report on May 10, suggested that OpenAI was gearing up to launch a search engine or product that could rival Google, which is hosting its own I/O conference this week, and emerging AI unicorn, Perplexity.

not gpt-5, not a search engine, but we’ve been hard at work on some new stuff we think people will love! feels like magic to me.

monday 10am PT. https://t.co/nqftf6lRL1

— Sam Altman (@sama) May 10, 2024

However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman dispelled these rumors on Friday, stating on X, “not gpt-5, not a search engine, but we’ve been hard at work on some new stuff we think people will love! feels like magic to me.” This sentiment was echoed by OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman, who vaguely stated that OpenAI would showcase a “live demo of some new work.”

Speculations on OpenAI’s New Launch

If not a search engine product, then what could OpenAI possibly launch? Activity by OpenAI employees on X has hinted at a conversational audio/voice assistant, reminiscent of the character Samantha in the 2006 sci-fi movie “Her,” voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

Altman “Liked” a post on X from self-described “College student, anarcho-capitalist, techno-optimist” Spencer Schiff who said: “Currently watching Her to prepare for Monday.” This has led to speculation that OpenAI might be unveiling a voice assistant.

Several OpenAI researchers and engineers have also posted cryptic updates on X, expressing their excitement for the event. Among them are Aidan Clark, a researcher and former Google DeepMind employee; Mo Bavarian, a research scientist working on optimization and architecture of LLMs at OpenAI; and technical staff members Chelsea Sierra Voss, Steven Heidel, Bogo Giertler, and Javier “Javi” Soto.

OpenAI’s Model Spec and Public Interactions

Altman also engaged with the public on Reddit on Friday, answering questions related to OpenAI’s “Model Spec,” a new document published last week outlining how it wants its AI products to behave. During this discussion, Altman responded to a question from user “ankle_biter50” asking: “Will you making this new model mean that we will have chatGPT 4 and the current DALL-E free?” with a side eye/looking emoji, hinting at the possibility of this being true.

Hints at a Voice Assistant Launch

Adding to the speculation that OpenAI will be releasing a voice assistant is an observation from user “@ananayarora” on X, who pointed out that OpenAI’s website source code has “webRTC servers in place” to allow “phone calls inside of chatGPT.” Furthermore, X user “@testingcatalog” noted that the ChatGPT iOS update appears to have been updated recently with a new conversational user interface.

The Anticipation Builds

Whatever OpenAI announces, it is certain to make waves and spark discussions in the AI and broader tech industry for hours, and likely days and weeks to come. Will it live up to the already surging hype — despite not being GPT-5?

Stay tuned and watch the event along with us at 10 am ET/1 pm ET.