Sam Altman, co-founder and C.E.O. of OpenAI, speaks during the New York Times annual DealBook summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 04, 2024 in New York City.
- OpenAI on Wednesday rolled out a new way to talk to its viral chatbot: 1-800-CHATGPT.
- U.S. users can dial the number for 15 minutes of free access per month.
- Any user globally can message the number via WhatsApp.
OpenAI is giving users a new way to talk to its viral chatbot: 1-800-CHATGPT.
By dialing the U.S. number (1-800-242-8478) or messaging it via WhatsApp, users can access an "easy, convenient, and low-cost way to try it out through familiar channels," OpenAI said Wednesday. At first, the company said callers will get 15 minutes free per month.
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The news follows a barrage of updates from OpenAI as part of a 12-day release event. The most notable announcement was the official rollout of Sora, OpenAI's buzzy AI video-generation tool.
OpenAI recently hired its first chief marketing officer, indicating plans to spend more on advertising to grow its user base. In October, the company debuted a search feature within ChatGPT that positions it to better compete with Google, Microsoft's Bing and Perplexity.
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It's all part of an aggressive growth plan for OpenAI, as the company battles Amazon-backed Anthropic, Elon Musk's xAI, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon in the rapidly expanding generative artificial intelligence market, which is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade.
OpenAI closed its latest funding round in October at a valuation of $157 billion. The company also received a $4 billion revolving line of credit, bringing its total liquidity to more than $10 billion.
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For the 1-800 number, users can call without an account, but the company said in a livestream that it's "working on ways" to be able to integrate WhatsApp messages with a person's ChatGPT credentials.
The team built the tool "just a few weeks ago," an employee said on the livestream.
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