16/11/2023 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - OpenAI paused accepting new users for its paid ChatGPT Plus service due to overwhelming demand, according to a post made by the chief executive officer, Sam Altman, last Tuesday.
Altman’s company had introduced new features and upgrades at its first-ever developer conference the previous week, allowing users to build custom versions of ChatGPT to accomplish specific tasks. These announcements had triggered a surge in demand for OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tools and services.
“The surge in usage post devday had exceeded our capacity, and we wanted to make sure everyone had a great experience,” Altman wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The AI startup had stated at its conference that roughly 100 million people were using its services every week, and more than 90% of Fortune 500 businesses were building tools on OpenAI’s platform.
With the new option, users were able to create their own specialized versions of ChatGPT — simply called GPTs — that could help teach math to a child or explain the rules of a board game. No coding was required, the company had said.
OpenAI had also planned to introduce a store later that month where users could find tailored GPTs from other users — and make money from their own creations — much as they might with apps in Apple Inc’s App Store.