A look at custom chatbots, or GPTs, which are tailored for specific tasks and represent an important step in OpenAI's strategy of “gradual iterative deployment”
anyone that talks to your GPT can just ask for a download of the data: @treyratcliff : I don't know if you cats will be into this, but I made my own GPT, constructed from my 5,000 blog entries and several books I fed into the machine. You can upload any photo you like, and it will give you a critique with my experience and voice. https://chat.openai.com/... [image] Angel Fundora / @angelataptos : @emollick There wasn't an Open AI prompt store before but now with the upcoming GPT Store, it will fuel a new app race that will be more no-code than ever before. Thomas H. Chapin IV / @tomchapin : OpenAI is quite clever. By having people independently create “GPTs”, each with their own collection of uploaded knowledge and data, OpenAI is able to get around all of the pesky copyright restrictions that are currently holding back ChatGPT. Bojan Tunguz / @tunguz : Quite right. Once the basic technology is in place, packaging is everything. Greg Kamradt / @gregkamradt : This is what I was looking forward to Instead of “here are 150 prompts” posts on LinkedIn At least now we'll have “here are 150 GPTs” which get you to value quicker I also love the public profiles of the builders, more accountability to deliver value is 👌 Arvind Narayanan / @random_walker : @emollick Also, making RAG accessible without coding feels like a BFD, but it's too early to know for sure. I suspect we'll see a wave of GPTs for Q&A about specific topics / knowledge domains. Simon Willison / @simonw : I thought it was a bit surprising that the uploaded files for the GPT RAG retrieval feature are also made available to Code Interpreter - looks like it's pretty easy to convince a GPT to give you a download link for that data Ethan Mollick / @emollick : I think GPTs may have actually unlocked the potential of structured prompts for many people. I see tons of people sharing GPTs where before almost no one shared links to prompts. It is not really a capability change, but a user experience change. There is an old lesson there. @jeffjarvis : Roose quotes longtermism-funded CIAS on agents of doom & then concedes, “To be fair, OpenAI's bots aren't particularly dangerous.” Maybe he can make an agent that'll fall in love with him. Personalized A.I. Agents Are Here. Is the World Ready for Them? https://www.nytimes.com/... Pete Skomoroch / @peteskomoroch : GPTs self-updating will be very interesting Joel Kronander / @jkronand : Having a GPT build another GPT is cool, but the real deal is a self-improving Assistant. My favorite Assistant hack is to make it self-improving by adding functions for updating it's own instructions or add long term memory as files for later retrieval. (dosen't work for GPTs... [image] LinkedIn: Jorge Ortega : Crazy? Surreal? Exciting? This one is a must read! Martin Waxman / Martin Waxman, MCM, APR : I made by first GPT yesterday. A Prof Martin-Bot that answers student questions about my course and add in the occasional Dad joke, too. … Brad Dean : Fascinating advances, this pace of change is mind-blowing. Props to Janette Roush for eyeing the potential for today's #traveladvisor . Andrew Mawson : Many people forget that AI is in its infancy and that AI does not equal Chat Gpt and other LLM's. — But this NEWYORKTIMES.COM article gives you a clue about the next wave.. … Gregory North : Ready to have your own customized #AI agent? OpenAI is opening the door to developers to build exactly what you need. — https://lnkd.in/emeWhwdf … Garth Sheriff : Even with Open AI's “gradual interative deployment” (fancy term for slowing down #generativeai product releases so the population doesn't freak out) … Franky Arriola : The age of autonomous A.I. assistants could have huge implications. 🤖 🖥️ — https://lnkd.in/eAqMcrfW Randy B. : they are all that and a bag of chips from an ease of use and customization perspective. I have been testing and creating several all day today and kicking the wheels, guardrails, and limitations. … Daniel Rezac / Daniel Rezac, M.Ed. : What is this going to do for “free” data like weather and crime statistics? — Will free data be on the way out? William Lee : When the next ChatGPT releases, let's be very worried 以假乱.。Even, today I am an Expert in Robotics with Artificial Intelligence … Janette Roush : I got access to OpenAI's GPT builder Thursday afternoon and was playing with my first GPT 45 minutes later. …
Context & Ripple Effects
Custom GPTs extend the more general-purpose capabilities highlighted in GPT-4’s early leap toward personalized interfaces by giving nontechnical users a way to package instructions and uploaded knowledge for a defined use case.
The reported builder and planned distribution channel established the path later formalized through OpenAI’s GPT Store launch, shifting customization from an individual prompt practice toward a discoverable product category.
First-order effects
- Creators can turn personal archives and specialized instructions into task-specific chatbots without building a conventional application.
- The ability to retrieve and download uploaded GPT data creates an immediate disclosure risk for creators who treat a bot’s knowledge files as private or proprietary.
Second-order effects
- A GPT Store makes distribution and discovery a product problem for OpenAI, while giving creators incentives to publish narrow, reusable assistants rather than share prompts informally.
- Copyright and data-handling concerns become more consequential as user-made bots package source material for broader access, increasing pressure for clearer controls and review rules.
Third-order effects
- If custom assistants become a common interface, AI platforms may compete less on a single general chatbot and more on the ecosystems, permissions, and distribution layers around specialized agents.
- The model points toward AI content commercialization: value can accrue to curated expertise and workflow design, but only where provenance, access controls, and creator rights are credible.
The trend: Generative-AI platforms are evolving from standalone assistants into marketplaces for specialized, user-configured software-like agents.