[Stock Market Ticker Board. Photo Credit: Rawpixel]

The release of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, has created a large commotion in the field of AI. 

Seen as the next major cash grab opportunity, investors and major corporations are seeking to invest in OpenAI, the founding company of ChatGPT. 

ChatGPT is an AI software program in the form of a chatbot, supported with the reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) method. 

It emulates human-written texts by stringing words derived from a corpus of pre-existing sources to create an ideal response to a question. 

With its eerily human-like speaking abilities, it is no wonder investors have become entranced. 

Beginning in 2019, the fervor towards generative AI through OpenAI grabbed the attention of venture capitalists, and substantially buttressed the AI market. 

Furthermore, with promising statistics following its release, ChatGPT has shed new light on the field of AI.

Although OpenAI is currently not a public trade stock, nor a small business, it opened the AI market up to investors looking for similar projects. 

This can be seen as the global artificial intelligence market size is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.3% from 2023 to 2030 from the 2022 market size of $136.55 billion.

Though ChatGPT’s entrance cannot be called the main contributor to this increase, it has undeniably been a catalyst for the growing market.

The undivided attention toward ChatGPT signifies two major advancements in the market.

One, ChatGPT  has significant potential for investment expansion, as its program is capable of merging with larger applications such as Microsoft’s Bing search engine. 

Two, its success signifies to major investors that generative AI is ready to launch into a myriad of subjects – from immersive commercial programs and market sales to analyzing legal documentation or facilitating drug discovery.

The mere idea of these possibilities is enough to get investors on board.

Speculation of an initial public offering (IPO) for OpenAI has reportedly been discussed.

The plan consists of selling existing shares to venture capital firms. 

Potential investors are buzzing, waiting for an opening to enter OpenAI, illustrating the significance of the company. 

Owning a share of OpenAI could mean early exposure to even newer technology in the future, leading to an increase in potential profits and increasing share value.  

ChatGPT has not only driven its own company into success, but the AI market as a whole.

OpenAI currently has two main investors, Microsoft and first close partners (FHC).

Since 2019, Microsoft has invested approximately $13 billion into OpenAI, equivalent to 75% of OpenAI’s current valuationMicrosoft has invested in hopes to complement OpenAI’s technology with its hallmark programs, such as Word, Bing and PowerPoint, with the technology already launched into a new Bing search engine. 

Furthermore, there is a possibility the technology could increase revenues for its Azure cloud computing platform.

This collaboration not only set off the first official revision of current applications for OpenAI, but also sparked a new AI race with Microsoft’s rival – Google.

Bard, Google’s AI search engine, was introduced shortly after the news of Bing’s revision.

Powered by the Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), Bard is similar in style to Bing, incorporating generative AI into its search engine.

This ecstatic chase between two major tech companies signifies the hype around AI technology and is  a mere glimpse of the future of AI.

With the flashy introduction of generative AI to the modern internet, there is much anticipation in the AI market for expansion in both technology and market valuation.