ChatGPT Glitches As Indians Queue Up To Get Subscription

OpenAI on Friday (March 17) announced that it was rolling out its ChatGPT Plus subscription service in India for a sum of $20 (INR 1,650) a month. 

“Great news! ChatGPT Plus subscriptions are now available in India. Get early access to new features, including GPT-4 today,” said OpenAI’s official Twitter handle. 

ChatGPT Plus allows users to access OpenAI’s language AI model that deploys neural networks and deep learning techniques to produce human-like writing. The platform has, especially, found usage in search engines where users can quickly get answers to queries. 

Through the subscription, the users will be able to have prior access to features of the newly unveiled GPT-4. Besides, the subscription service also allows users to access the platform during peak hours and offers quicker responses and priority access to new features and improvements.

While the move was largely welcomed by users, the rollout was marred by tech glitches and payment issues flagged by users online. 

“Anyone from India has been able to buy ChatGPT Plus? For me, it keeps saying  “credit card has been declined” & they have no alternative payment methods (unhappy emoticon),” a Twitter user added.

This comes nearly a month after the paid service was introduced in the US in February. Previously, users were put on a waitlist to access ChatGPT Plus but the service was made available to all users post the launch.

Earlier this week, OpenAI launched GPT-4, which, as per the company, is more creative and collaborative than previous versions and has the power to generate text that closely resembles human speech. The current iteration of the chatbot is based on GPT-3.5 technology.

The new iteration of GPT will also be able to handle larger contexts and can now process up to 25,000 words from users. GPT-4 will also have a provision to form conversations based on images as inputs. 

In a blog post, the company said that it launched the GPT-4 through data-sharing partnerships under which companies such as Morgan Stanley and Duolingo were paying OpenAI for access. All other users will have to pay $20 for the service. 

The development comes as major big tech players such as Microsoft (which backs OpenAI) and Google have unveiled plans to roll out their AI chatbot offerings. While Microsoft has Bing AI, search engine giant Google has introduced Big Bard to compete with others. 

While the tech scene has been galore with these developments, public demonstrations have not panned out well for some players. Google-parent Alphabet lost $100 Bn in market value after its new chatbot shared inaccurate information during a promotional video amid an underwhelming public demonstration. 

Back home, startups such as Writesonic are also making waves through their offerings such as ChatSonic. Amid a renewed interest, the Indian AI ecosystem is suddenly witnessing a major spurt with more funding numbers and more government push. 

The country will launch its very own AI programme with large datasets by the end of the month or early next month. The Centre also made provisions, in Budget 2023, to set up three centres of excellence for AI across top educational institutions in the country to scale up AI research.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.