Sam Altman reveals OpenAI's dreadful original name for ChatGPT
"We are much better at research than we are at naming things."
ChatGPT. It's a name that rolls off the tongue, even as it sends the heads of copywriters, developers and goodness knows who else rolling across the floor.
But things could have been very different.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has revealed the truly awful name that his firm gave ChatGPT during its inception.
"We are much better at research than we are at naming things," he admitted in a blog post. "We had been watching people use the playground feature of our API and knew that developers were really enjoying talking to the model. We thought building a demo around that experience would show people something important about the future and help us make our models better and safer.
"We ended up mercifully calling it ChatGPT instead, and launched it on November 30th of 2022."
What was ChatGPT originally called?
i always wanted to write a six-word story. here it is:
— Sam Altman (@sama) January 4, 2025
___
near the singularity; unclear which side.
Chat With GPT-3.5. Not very catchy, we're sure you'll agree.
Today, of course, folks like Altman who claim they don't have a way with words (although we think he's a very good communicator) have access to large language models (LLMs) which can allegedly write like humans. Read on to find out what OpenAI's best consumer model, o1, suggested was a better name for Chat With GPT-3.5.
The writing ability of LLMs is, frankly, not very good at this stage, although it is likely to get better and better as we move towards artificial general intelligence (AGI) and superintelligence (ASI).
OpenAI has consistently promised that these paradigm shifts are just around the corner, with its staff pumping out social media posts which claim that AGI is almost certain to spring forth within years or even months.
AGI, ASI and the OpenAI hype machine
I kinda miss doing AI research back when we didn't know how to create superintelligence.
— Stephen McAleer (@McaleerStephen) January 4, 2025
In his blog, Altman said he was "confident" that OpenAI knows how to build AGI and predicted that AI agents will join the workforce in 2025 and "materially change the output of companies".
"We are beginning to turn our aim to superintelligence in the true sense of the word," Altman added. "We love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future. With superintelligence, we can do anything else. Superintelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own, and in turn massively increase abundance and prosperity.
"This sounds like science fiction right now, and somewhat crazy to even talk about it. That’s alright—we’ve been there before and we’re OK with being there again. We’re pretty confident that in the next few years, everyone will see what we see, and that the need to act with great care, while still maximizing broad benefit and empowerment, is so important."
So what does ChatGPT think is a good name for Chat With GPT-3.5? Here is a selection of its answers which, frankly, show that it is even worse at coming up with names than Sam Altman claims to be.
- Converse with GPT-3.5
- GPT-3.5 Communiqué
- GPT-3.5 Brainwave
- GPT-3.5 Inquire
- GPT-3.5 Nexus
- GPT-3.5 Palaver
- GPT-3.5 Byte Banter
- GPT-3.5 Think Tank
We think human writers and marketeers are safe for now. Get in touch with Machine founder Jasper Hamill to work with one.
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