OpenAI Shakeup: Why It's Not Time to Panic

Welcome to another edition of the best damn newsletter in AI.

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Our #1 goal is to be useful. So please shoot us an email 📩 if you have questions or feedback, and especially if you implement something we share!

Here's what we're covering today:

• Advice on how to navigate the OpenAI saga

• Announcement! Custom GPT workshop (for beginners in business!)

• Our favorite reads on what’s happening with OpenAI

Let’s get to it! 👇

TODAY'S PERSPECTIVE

OpenAI imploded, but we’re not (that) worried

Whew has it been a crazy past 4 days in AI world.

We’re pretty sure you’ve read hundreds of recaps of the saga: OpenAI's board fired CEO Sam Altman last Friday and the whole company is now threatening to walk. If you want the full timeline, we’ve liked this one from The Verge.

This unexpected move has left many in the tech world, including us, wondering what's next.

But before you start worrying about the future of AI, let's take a step back.

The exact same news coming out of Anthropic (OpenAI’s closest startup competitor) would have barely broke a news story. That’s because OpenAI is really just that far ahead of everyone else in the space.

So now, everyone is wondering. If the leader in the pack slows down, what’s ahead?

Here’s what’s important to remember: tech giants like Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft still have world-class AI teams working on the same technologies (in fact, many researchers bounce between each, and are known to put aside commercial competition in the name of collaboration).

While these teams may have lower adoption, their tech capabilities are likely only 6-12 months behind.

And slowing down might not be a bad thing.

There's STILL a gap between the tech itself and its adoption.

Most people are still using ChatGPT for basic AI tasks. And amongst the folks who have gone all in and are adopting? They see no end in use cases in sight.

We are still incredibly early. So our advice? Keep going and don't let the recent events at OpenAI deter your AI plans.

Now before we close, we did want to share — if you're only using OpenAI's products, here's a few tactical things you can do to diversify yourself:

1. Set up an account with Anthropic to use Claude or their AI models via API. (https://claude.ai/)

2. Go check out Bard again, Google's friendly chatbot that is connected to the internet and quite good at coding tasks. (https://bard.google.com/)

3. Make sure you're taking ownership over your data. Any time you run a prompt or get an output (especially when its good), that's valuable data that you can be using in the future for other prompts or future customization of models.

Note: these are really precautions. We'll see as the story unfolds - but we think its very likely that OpenAI's products and models continue on in the direction they were headed. The company may just look a bit different.

HAPPENINGS

Custom GPTs for Business Live Workshop

Following our release of our Custom GPT about Custom GPTs — If you're looking for hands-on training to understand what "custom GPTs" are, how to start integrating them into your existing ChatGPT and AI adoption - this is for you.

(yes, we already have plans to make this generalizable beyond OpenAI)

This training hosted by Rachel Woods will be a 90 minute crash course on:

• What are Custom GPTs

• How they should fit into your overall AI adoption strategy

• How to set them up

• Business use cases to get you started

+ you'll also get

• Recording of the workshop

• 🔥 A Personalized Custom GPT Plan afterwards with our team’s recommended steps to set up a custom GPT based on your description of your problem.*

  • *You must clearly explain what you want to do, but don’t worry - we’ll have a framework to help you!

Limited Spots for our November 30th workshop.

Grab Your Spot

Note: this workshop is not designed for advanced users!

LINKS

For your reading list 📚

In case you want more on the OpenAI saga...

• Investors had zero say and are not happy, and are surely not going to put more money in at previous valuations

• European investors are on the edge of their seats for the next 'episode' of the OpenAI saga, but the potential fallout will cost them too

• OpenAI's employees are causing a stir, threatening to quit unless Sam Altman is reinstated as CEO.

• It’s not clear whether Sam Altman is returning to OpenAI or taking his new job at Microsoft

• OpenAI’s board approached Anthropic about a merger

That's all!

We'll see you again next week!

Thoughts, feedback and questions are much appreciated - respond here or shoot us a note at [email protected].

Cheers,

🪄 The AI Exchange Team