ChatGPT maker OpenAI announces new 'flagship' model

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence start-up behind chatbot ChatGPT, announced Monday it is rolling out a "new flagship model" that will be available to users for free.

The Microsoft-backed company introduced its new GPT-40 model during a livestream, and showed off its features including real-time conversation skills.

OpenAI's chief technology officer, Mira Murati, said users can search for real-time information through conversations with the tool, which has advanced data analysis that allows users to upload information like charts for analysis.

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Murati said paid users will have up to five times the capacity limits of free users, and the new tool will be available in the coming weeks.

The company provided live demonstrations of GPT-40's capabilities, including a new voice assistant and vision abilities.

In one demonstration, the ChatGPT voice assistant was able to read out a bedtime story in different voices, emotions and tones. In another, the ChatGPT voice assistant used its vision capabilities to walk through solving a math equation written on a sheet of paper.

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OpenAI is under pressure to expand the user base of ChatGPT, its popular chatbot product that wowed the world with its ability to produce human-like written content and top-notch software code.

Shortly after launching in late 2022, ChatGPT was called the fastest application to ever reach 100 million monthly active users. However, worldwide traffic to ChatGPT's website has been on a roller-coaster ride in the past year and is only now returning to its May 2023 peak, according to analytics firm Similarweb.

Giving ChatGPT the search engine-like capability of accessing and linking to up-to-date, accurate Web information is an obvious next step, and one that the current iteration of ChatGPT finds challenging, industry experts have said.

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The announcement comes a day before Tuesday's start of competitor Google's annual I/O conference, where the tech giant is expected to unveil a slew of AI-related products.

Last week, reports speculated that OpenAI would announce during the livestream that it would launch an AI-powered search engine to rival Google.

Reuters contributed to this report.