OpenAI’s Sam Altman complained chip shortage is ‘delaying’ ChatGPT plans
During an off-the-record meeting in London last month, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, admitted that the company was experiencing delays due to a shortage of graphic processing units (GPUs). Altman reportedly expressed his concern over the GPU shortages to a roomful of app developers and startup founders, stating that it was delaying a lot of their short-term plans, including the progress of ChatGPT – a conversational AI tool developed by the company. The comments were made during an event attended by Raza Habib, CEO of London-based AI firm Humanloop, who mistakenly published a blog post about the meeting. Although the post was quickly taken down, a number of archived versions of the post appeared on social media and other platforms, sparking a reaction from users on the forum Hacker News.
The shortage of GPUs has impacted many firms worldwide, including OpenAI. In April, The Information reported that AI start-ups were experiencing major difficulties due to server shortages at key cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Despite the issues faced by OpenAI, Altman laid out his plans for the company during the meeting, which reportedly included creating a “cheaper and faster GPT-4” and “longer context windows” for the ChatGPT tool, as well as improvements to the API to streamline the developer experience. Altman also reassured developers that OpenAI had no plans to release more products beyond ChatGPT.
FAQs
What is OpenAI?
OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory consisting of the for-profit OpenAI LP and the non-profit OpenAI Inc. The company aims to promote and develop friendly AI in a safe and beneficial manner.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a conversational AI tool developed by OpenAI. It is designed to answer questions and engage in conversations with users in a natural and human-like way.
What are graphic processing units (GPUs)?
GPUs are specialised computer chips that are used to accelerate the processing of graphics and other visual data. They are also used to train and run AI software, as they can perform mathematical calculations faster and more efficiently than traditional central processing units (CPUs).
Why is there a shortage of GPUs?
The shortage of GPUs is due to an industry-wide supply chain issue caused by a surge in demand for electronic devices during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to many companies experiencing delays in the production and delivery of GPUs, impacting the development of products that require these chips.
ChatGPT Plans Delayed due to Chip Shortage, laments OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly admitted that a lack of computer chips is hindering the progress of the company’s chatbot, ChatGPT, during an off-the-record meeting in London. The remarks were detailed by Raza Habib, CEO of London-based AI firm Humanloop, in an inadvertently published blog post. According to Habib, Altman said OpenAI lacked enough graphic processing units to make fast improvements to ChatGPT and that the issue had been raised frequently by customers. Altman explained that the problem was due to industrywide shortages of ultra-powerful chips required to train and run AI software.