“Don’t matter” is too strong. Most recent user numbers I find for them are on the order of 700 million weekly ChatGPT users. It and maybe Gemini (400 monthly users in May), which has the advantage of Google pushing it everywhere, are the main ones that the median user has heard of—for comparison, Claude.ai apparently had under 20 million users in May. (I don’t know how reliable that site is but all the numbers I could find were similar.)
The average user is not the kind of tech-savvy person who follows Twitter to find out what the latest models are. They just use ChatGPT and have never tried any alternatives because ChatGPT is the thing that’s always in the news and that everyone talks about. It’s of course possible that OpenAI screws things up so badly that some other competitor becomes dominant and the default choice for the average person, but right now they have a significant first-mover advantage and influence on a huge amount of people.
If OpenAI doesn’t want to lose 10-100M DAUs they should make a model that flatters its users. Yes they’re probably smart enough to build it themselves, instead of losing to the competition.
Many users want a model that flatters them. Most human beings have an ego and respond well to flattery if they trust the source is being sincere.
OpenAI has no technical moat so their decisions don’t matter. Expect maximally “sycophantic” models to dominate twitter in 6-12 months.
“Don’t matter” is too strong. Most recent user numbers I find for them are on the order of 700 million weekly ChatGPT users. It and maybe Gemini (400 monthly users in May), which has the advantage of Google pushing it everywhere, are the main ones that the median user has heard of—for comparison, Claude.ai apparently had under 20 million users in May. (I don’t know how reliable that site is but all the numbers I could find were similar.)
The average user is not the kind of tech-savvy person who follows Twitter to find out what the latest models are. They just use ChatGPT and have never tried any alternatives because ChatGPT is the thing that’s always in the news and that everyone talks about. It’s of course possible that OpenAI screws things up so badly that some other competitor becomes dominant and the default choice for the average person, but right now they have a significant first-mover advantage and influence on a huge amount of people.
If OpenAI doesn’t want to lose 10-100M DAUs they should make a model that flatters its users. Yes they’re probably smart enough to build it themselves, instead of losing to the competition.
Many users want a model that flatters them. Most human beings have an ego and respond well to flattery if they trust the source is being sincere.