ChatGPT Launches First-Ever App On IPhones

Topline

OpenAI announced Thursday that its wildly popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, is available for download on iPhones—which the company hopes will significantly expand access to the chatbot even as concerns grow about the impacts of the rapid expansion of AI products.

ChatGPT sign in the 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 January 25, 2023. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Key Facts

The app’s rollout is starting in the U.S before expanding to other countries in the coming weeks, according to OpenAI.

The company said the Android version of ChatGPT is “coming soon,” but did not share an exact date or time range for the launch.

The app is free and will synchronize history across users’ devices—allowing web search data to be transferred between iPhones and desktops.

The iOS app will feature voice input through OpenAI’s open-source speech-recognition system, Whisper.

Apple’s app store previously had a swath of ChatGPT alternatives, knockoffs and clones that scammed users and linked them to malware.

Key Background

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is one of several AI chatbots in a market filled with competing software from companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Microsoft’s Bing AI was available on the app store prior to ChatGPT’s iOS launch—with the earliest version arriving back in October 2022. The AI chatbot race has garnered significant attention from the public and concern from lawmakers, who recently held a hearing on AI that featured OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. In a nearly three-hour-long discussion on AI’s potential dangers and regulatory pathways, Altman pitched the creation of a new federal agency with the authority to issue and revoke licenses for AI technology.

Surprising Fact

A UBS study from February found that ChatGPT was the fastest-growing consumer application ever. “In 20 years following the internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app,” a UBS analyst noted in the study.

Big Number

$90 billion. That’s how much UBS expects the AI hardware and services market to be worth by 2025.

Tangent

Numerous school districts across the country banned ChatGPT over concerns it could promote cheating on assignments, but New York City Public Schools—the largest school district in the country—reversed course on its ban Thursday. New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks said of the policy switch: “While initial caution was justified, it has now evolved into an exploration and careful examination of this new technology’s power and risks.”