Don't Approve Of 'ChatGPT' Name? OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Doesn't Like It Too, But Now We Are Stuck

OpenAI’s newly reinstated CEO and the company’s co-founder Sam Altman appears to be not a big fan of AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT’s name, as per his own admission on a podcast. 

What Happened: On Thursday, Trevor Noah’s latest podcast was posted, in which Altman can be heard expressing his displeasure with the name “ChatGPT,” as first reported by Business Insider. 

Altman said, “It’s a horrible name, but it may be too ubiquitous to ever change.”

See Also: Sam Altman Is ‘Trying To Live Years In The Future,’ My Job Is To Focus On Today, Says OpenAI COO

The conversation continued, and the OpenAI CEO asked the South African comedian and writer for possible alternative names, contemplating shortening it to “GPT” or “Chat.” 

However, despite his aversion to the name, Altman later conceded that the name might be too well-established to change. 

“No marketer ever would’ve picked ChatGPT as the name for this, but we may be stuck with it. And that might be alright,” he said. 

For the uninitiated, last month, ChatGPT completed one year. It was launched on Nov. 30, 2022, and by January this year, the chatbot was already boasting 100 million monthly active users.

In October earlier this year, ChatGPT reportedly garnered about 1.7 billion visits globally. Moreover, the latest version of GPT-4 can see, hear, and speak. Simply put, ChatGPT Plus subscribers can now engage in voice conversations and share images with the chatbot. 

Why It Matters: Altman’s dissatisfaction with the chatbot’s name comes after a tumultuous period for the CEO. He was reinstated as OpenAI’s CEO following a brief firing last month, which led to the company’s employees threatening to resign. 

His return also came with Microsoft Corporation MSFT securing a non-voting observer role on the OpenAI board.

Shortly after his reinstatement, Altman stated that his firing episode proved OpenAI could function well without his presence. 

“I selfishly feel good because either I picked great leaders or I mentored them well. It’s very nice to feel like the company will be totally fine without me, and the team is ready and has leveled up,” he stated. 

Meanwhile, OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk, who left the company in 2018 over some differences, has also launched his own AI company called xAI. The tech billionaire’s AI venture also launched its first model “Grok” last month.

Musk has been touting Grok as a superior alternative to ChatGPT and has shared the ambition of making the platform a verb like “Googling” is used for searching on the internet.

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This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.