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ChatGPT was never intended/expected by OpenAI to be a big deal in of itself. GPT-3 had been a big step up in capability from GPT-2, but of course wasn't getting any attention outside of the ML world since it wasn't something people could actually use. OpenAI built ChatGPT (says Altman) basically just to showcase GPT-3 since nobody else had bothered to do it. I don't think they were expecting the public to be so enthralled with it and actually find so many useful things to do with it.

Is it so terrible then? "GPT" has a nice ring to it, especially considering that it wasn't meant to become a household name - before ChatGPT blew up, only people who were interested in the AI field knew what GPT was at all.

And yet I suspect it’s the only one my parents may recognize as an AI product.