Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World

by Parmy Olson

Altman and Brockman would go on to say that this was never their intention and that OpenAI was genuinely concerned about how GPT-2 could be abused. But their approach to public relations was, arguably, still a form of mystique marketing with a dash of reverse psychology. Apple had done it for years with secretive product launches that would drum up excitement, and OpenAI was now being similarly secretive about how GPT-2 had come together. Some AI academics meanwhile found that trying to access GPT-2 was like trying to get into an exclusive nightclub. OpenAI was being more careful and selective about who got to try it out. Was this a publicity stunt or a cautious thought experiment? It may well have been both. Altman had learned over the years to be counterintuitive. If you held back on details, you could create more fanfare. Lean into controversy—such as when Altman sent a long list of Loopt’s risks to a Wall Street Journal reporter—and you could disarm your critics.