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ChatGPT sign displayed on OpenAI website displayed on a laptop screen and OpenAI logo displayed on a phone screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on February 2, 2023.

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

What is ChatGPT? I asked the buzzy artificial intelligence chatbot, which has ignited conversation in schools, corporate boardrooms and social media, to explain itself.

In its own description, ChatGPT is “an AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI, based on the GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) language model. It uses deep learning techniques to generate human-like responses to text inputs in a conversational manner.”

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The tool is the talk of the business world. It has been mentioned on earnings calls by management from a range of companies including oil giants, banks — and even the industrial behemoth Caterpillar.

It has also sparked concerns over potential abuses. In classrooms, students have used ChatGPT to generate entire essays, while hackers have begun testing it to write malicious code.

So what is ChatGPT, exactly? Here’s a simple guide on all you need to know about the popular AI chatbot.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by San Francisco-based startup OpenAI. OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman and is backed by well-known investors — most notably Microsoft

It is one of several examples of generative AI. These are tools that allow users to enter written prompts and receive new human-like text or images and videos generated by the AI.

ChatGPT provides an AI-generated answer to the query “Tell me about ChatGPT.”

Leon Neal | Getty Images

Prior examples include Dall-E, a text-to-image program from OpenAI that garnered attention from people captivated by its ability to come up with realistic, often absurd, pictures that match people’s text descriptions.

Lensa, an app based on open-source AI project Stable Diffusion, has been used to turn selfies into illustrious self-portraits inspired by everything from sci-fi to anime.

In ChatGPT’s case, the service is a text-based tool that can produce human-like responses to user requests — from poetry in the style of William Shakespeare to advice on what to do for a child’s birthday party.

What’s so special about it?

ChatGPT is powered by a large language model, or LLM, meaning it’s programmed to understand human language and generate responses based on large corpora of data.

ChatGPT’s LLM is called GPT-3.5. It is an upgrade of OpenAI’s GPT-3 language model.

With a whopping 175 billion parameters, GPT-3 is one of the largest and most powerful language processing AI models to date.

Why ChatGPT is a game changer for AI

What makes ChatGPT so impressive is its ability to produce human-like responses, thanks in no small part to the vast amounts of data it is trained on.

“What’s exciting is that the responses are more and more human-like, so what you’re seeing is things that we did not think computers could do before,” Jeffrey Wong, global chief innovation officer at professional services firm EY, told CNBC.

Another thing that differentiates ChatGPT is its ability to log context from users’ earlier messages in a thread and use it to form responses later in the conversation.

Why is it so popular? 

No generative AI application has quite managed to achieve the kind of influence and virality that ChatGPT has.

It has been the subject of countless memes and the talk of the business community at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month. Chinese tech giant Baidu made its own version called Ernie Bot.

The chatbot signed up 1 million in the five days after its release, according to a Dec. 5 tweet from Altman. By January, ChatGPT had amassed 100 million active users only two months into its launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to a UBS note published last week.

It took TikTok nine months to reach 100 million users and Instagram two and a half years.

Jan. 31 was the biggest-ever day for ChatGPT, with its website garnering a record 28 million daily visits, according to data from Similarweb. That was up 165% from a month ago.

One reason for ChatGPT’s popularity is its accessibility. The service is public to anyone via the OpenAI website, and its potential applications range from school homework to legal briefs.

The timing has also played a part, according to Wong.

“When we come out of pandemics, you typically see this burst of creativity,” he said. “The biggest example is, after the Black Plague, there was this Renaissance, this burst of creativity across the board.”

Why it’s got tech giants clashing

Microsoft is betting billions on ChatGPT’s owner, OpenAI. In late January, the tech titan announced a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment deal with OpenAI.

Microsoft declined to disclose a specific dollar amount. A report from Semafor said the Redmond, Washington tech giant was in talks to invest as much as $10 billion in the company. Microsoft previously invested $1 billion into OpenAI.

On Tuesday, Microsoft held a press event where it announced new AI-powered updates to its Bing search engine and Edge browser. Altman confirmed Microsoft had incorporated some of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 language technologies into Bing.

Watch CNBC's full interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

That was a day after Google unveiled its own response to ChatGPT, called Bard AI. The company plans to start rolling Bard out in Google Search in the coming weeks.

ChatGPT is seen as a threat to Google. Rather than turn to the web search pioneer for your most burning questions, people could rely on ChatGPT. 

Google was actually early to the advanced conversational AI game, through the launch of its own large language model called Lamda in 2021. It missed the boat on launching its own consumer product based on Lamda — and hopes to change that with Bard, which is powered by the language model.

A step towards ‘general’ intelligence? 

What is Web3? We ask the man who invented the word

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Jeff Bezos discloses plan to sell up to $4.8 billion in Amazon stock

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Jeff Bezos discloses plan to sell up to .8 billion in Amazon stock

Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, takes the stage during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Dec. 4, 2024.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year, according to a financial filing on Friday.

Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains Amazon’s top shareholder, is selling the shares as part of a trading plan adopted on March 4, the filing states. The stake would be worth about $4.8 billion at the current price.

The disclosure follows Amazon’s first-quarter earnings report late Thursday. While profit and revenue topped estimates, the company’s forecast for operating income in the current quarter came in below Wall Street’s expectations.

The results show that Amazon is bracing for uncertainty related to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. The company landed in the crosshairs of the White House this week over a report that Amazon planned to show shoppers the cost of the tariffs. Trump personally called Bezos to complain, and Amazon clarified that no such change was coming.

Bezos previously offloaded about $13.5 billion worth of Amazon shares last year, marking his first sale of company stock since 2021.

Since handing over the Amazon CEO role to Andy Jassy, Bezos has spent more of his time on his space exploration company, Blue Origin, and his $10 billion climate and biodiversity fund. He’s used Amazon share sales to help fund Blue Origin, as well as the Day One Fund, which he launched in September 2018 to provide education in low-income communities and combat homelessness.

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Earnings show one tech segment starting to feel the tariff pinch fastest

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Earnings show one tech segment starting to feel the tariff pinch fastest

Apple CEO Tim Cook, center, watches during the inauguration ceremonies for President Donald Trump, right, and Vice President JD Vance, left, in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025.

Shawn Thew | Afp | Getty Images

A tale of two different technology companies is playing out this earnings season as President Donald Trump‘s global trade upheaval makes planning nearly impossible.

Businesses reliant on advertising appear to be holding on for the near-term as those dependent on consumer spending have started to feel the cracks of a murky macro subjected to an ever-shifting tariff policy.

Block offered a lackluster second-quarter profit outlook in its earnings release Thursday, and said it took into account a “more cautious stance” into the end of the year. Airbnb issued disappointing guidance and said its business experienced some “softness” in travel from Canada to the U.S. toward the end of the quarter.

“In the U.S., we’ve seen relatively softer results, which we believe has been largely driven by broader economic uncertainties,” the vacation rentals company said in a letter to shareholders.

The fortress technology giants are also proving susceptible to Trump’s whims.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the company anticipates $900 million in added costs from tariffs this quarter, but said it’s “very difficult” to predict beyond that timeframe due to uncertainty.

He also said Apple is sourcing products shipped to the U.S. from India and Vietnam — where tariffs are lower.

“We do expect the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. will have India as their country of origin,” he said. “Vietnam will be the country of origin for almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods products sold in the U.S.”

Amazon‘s e-commerce business, which relies on many sellers that ship from China, is also beginning to feel the pressure. The company issued light guidance for the current quarter, and said “tariffs and trade policies” and “recessionary fears” were factors in its outlook.

Trump recently hiked the import duty on goods from China to 145%. Amazon is also grappling with the expiration of the de minimis loophole that previously allowed imports under $800 to enter the U.S. duty free.

Finance chief Brian Olsavsky said the company offered a wide guidance range due to tariff unpredictability.

But Amazon’s advertising business was a silver lining in the report, jumping 19% from last year. Other ad-heavy businesses also reported strong results in this macroeconomic setup, but warned of possibly tougher waters ahead.

Alphabet reported a year-over-year jump in ad revenue, but warned that the de minimis changes would “cause a slight headwind” to its ad business this year, particularly in Asia. Meta‘s ad revenues topped estimates, but finance chief Susan Li said some Asia e-commerce retailers have curbed ad spending. “

“A portion of that spend has been redirected to other markets, but overall spend for those advertisers is below the levels prior to April,” she said.

Worsening consumer sentiment isn’t just a tech problem. Airlines, restaurants and consumer retailers are also feeling the pinch.

Delta Airlines cut its growth plans for 2025 and trimmed its first-quarter guidance on weakening demand, while Chipotle Mexican Grill blamed a “slowdown consumer spending” as a reason for a decline in same-store sales.

U.S. consumers also appear less optimistic about the economy. Last month, the expectations index from the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey fell to its lowest level since October 2011.

Board officials said the reading is consistent with a recession.

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Uber inks robotaxi deal with Momenta to launch service in Europe next year

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Uber inks robotaxi deal with Momenta to launch service in Europe next year

A passenger walks near Uber signage after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, on July 10, 2022.

David Swanson | Reuters

Uber said on Friday that it’s partnering with Chinese self-driving startup Momenta to launch robotaxi services outside of the U.S. and China.

The first deployment is scheduled to roll out in Europe in early 2026, with safety operators onboard. Uber said the goal is to combine its global ridesharing network with Momenta’s technology to deliver safe and efficient robotaxi services.

“This collaboration brings together Uber’s global ridesharing expertise and Momenta’s AI-first autonomous driving technology, paving the way for a future where more riders around the world experience the benefits of reliable and affordable autonomous mobility,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the press release.

Momenta CEO Xudong Cao said the arrangement “completes the key ecosystem needed to scale autonomous driving globally.”

Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

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Momenta, based in Beijing, is a leading autonomous driving company known for its “two-leg” product strategy. It offers both Mpilot, a mass-production-ready assisted driving system, and MSD (Momenta Self-Driving), aimed at full autonomy. The company has years of experience operating autonomous vehicles in cities across China and has partnerships with large equipment manufacturers.

Competition is heating up in the robotaxi market, and Uber is actively seeking deals to sustain a ride-hailing business as robots replace drivers. Uber has partnered with companies including Motional and Waymo in select U.S. cities. Motional hit pause on its robotaxi deployments with both Uber and Lyft last year. This marks Uber’s first major push to deploy AVs abroad in partnership with a Chinese startup.

Uber previously had its own self-driving car unit, but it sold the division in 2020 to Aurora Technologies, an Amazon-backed self-driving car firm. As part of that deal, Uber said it would invest $400 million into Aurora.

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