Was ChatGPT hyped?

It took off rapidly but that was hardly because of any hyping and almost entirely due to word of mouth and people actually liking the product, until the press picked up on it.

From what I remember they still had an invite process when they were getting popular and the demand clearly overwhelmed their servers several times, indicating a much bigger response than they expected. If anything I think OpenAI was downplaying the product at the time.

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simonw 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

OpenAI were completely taken by surprise by the success of ChatGPT. Internally there were debates over whether they should launch it at all.

It's had a ton of hype since then of course.

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drawfloat 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

ChatGPT is one of the most hyped tech products ever. We’ve had nearly 4 years of hype. From claims of AGI to claims we need UBI because of the ways it will devastate the work force.

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bko 2 days ago | parent [-]

What are you talking about? It has nearly a billion users. It's the fastest growing consumer app in history. What about it is hype? What does hype even mean?

You might not like the discussion around the tech, but to say the tech is hyped like something like NFTs where they had a crazy amount of media coverage and a tiny minority of people actually using it, is just wrong.

	▲	rchaud 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Candy Crush was downloaded over a billion times within 3 years of its release. Whether or not users kept playing it after the first few levels is unknown. I imagine it's roughly similar for OpenAI; lots of curiosity-driven signups from the hoi polloi, but retention likely drops off once familiar properties like Google and Meta start embedding AI summaries in their own highly-visited tools.
	▲	drawfloat 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		AGI is around the corner, nobody will code by the end of 2026, and the devastation is likely to be so vast we need to start looking at UBI now to stem the tide of job losses. Movie studios should also start worrying because Sora will soon generate all the movies people need tailored to exactly what they want. Yes, absolutely zero hype.
	▲	wil421 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Did you read OPs part about AGI and UBI hype?

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lmm 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It took off rapidly but that was hardly because of any hyping and almost entirely due to word of mouth and people actually liking the product, until the press picked up on it.

Not my experience. A whole lot of breathless mentions in media, LinkedIn, and especially top-down company emails. Far fewer cases of people actually liking/using it.

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etempleton 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think the way Sam Altman talked about AI. The framing of it. That they had to hold back the real version because it is just too powerful; they don't even know how it is working; it is already doing these incredible things that would change the world, but we can't / won't release it was all cleverly orchestrated.

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heavyset_go 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It was claimed that ChatGPT was sentient and AGI lol

Some people lost their minds over the popular sentiment: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-...

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ares623 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes, that is what hype is. It was organic hype, and is frankly the only real way to do it otherwise you get backlash.

	▲	svnt 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Those products aren’t typically described as having been “hyped” though — just successful or viral. Hyped has a sort of derogatory/schadenfreude subtext.
	▲	HeWhoLurksLate 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I thought "hype" was a different thing from "organic growth" but similar