OpenAI finally announces its magical product

Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI announced a desktop version of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT-4o, as the global race to triumph over competitors intensifies.

The technology chief of Sam Altman's company Mira Murati said in a live-streamed event that the GPT-4 is open for everyone, even to the free users of the San Francisco-based company.

“This is the first time that we are really making a huge step forward when it comes to the ease of use,” Murati said.

CEO Sam Altman wrote on X Friday that the company worked very hard and it would soon release something that would be magical and people would love it.

Murati added that the new model, GPT-4o, is “much faster,” with improved capabilities in text, video, and audio.

The CNBC report quoted Murti as saying: "The new model also has improved quality and speed of ChatGPT for 50 different languages, and it will also be available via OpenAI’s API so that developers can begin building applications using the new model today. GPT-4o is twice as fast as, and half the cost of, GPT-4 Turbo."

OpenAI team members also showed the new GPT model’s audio capabilities, asking for help.

Mark Chen, an OpenAI researcher said the model has the capability to "perceive your emotion", and that the model can also handle users interrupting it.

The team also prompted the chatbot to analyse the user’s facial expressions and to tell what the person may be experiencing.

“Hey there, what’s up? How can I brighten your day today?” ChatGPT’s audio mode said when a user greeted it.

Chen further presented the GPT’s ability to tell a bedtime story and prompted it to change the tone of its voice to be more dramatic or robotic. 

OpenAI has been worth over $80 billion to investors since it was founded in 2015. Its generative AI chatbot sent shockwaves in the tech realm after ChatGPT was announced.