Build Your Own GPT 🧟‍♂️🏗️

👀 TLDR:

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover the first major developer conference from OpenAI. The big news from the event was the launch of GPTs, customizable mini-versions of ChatGPT that you can train for anything. Oh, and OpenAI will also be launching a storefront that will act like an app store for AI bots. In other news this week, we look at the meteoric rise and spectacular fall of WeWork, with the co-working space company filing for bankruptcy. We also have a strange tale from an NFT event, details on The Beatles’ last track, and a Stat that has caused some anger on Spotify royalties. Finally, our What’s dAppening section looks at why the SEC is struggling to hire crypto experts.

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Takes 🎬

🤖🍾 OpenAI – First Developer Event Shows the Future Is Now

CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella joined Sam Altman on stage for OpenAI’s inaugural developer conference Monday, as they congratulated each other on their global domination. There was a lot to gloat about: Over 100 million people are now using ChatGPT weekly, including 92% of Fortune 500 companies, and importantly, there are now 2 million developers building tools and products through its API. But back to the tech: OpenAI announced an upgrade to its current model – GPT-4 Turbo - giving it a 4X bigger “context window”, while also being faster, cheaper and more powerful. Next was the release of “GPTs”, the newly available offering that effectively provides customizable mini versions of ChatGPT to, well, everyone. These GPTs are task or context specific, so you (yes, you!) can train your GPTs to become anything from math tutors for your kids to curators for your art museum. Soon, they said, OpenAI will open a storefront (think of it like an app store for AI bots), where developers can list their purpose-built GPTs for a variety of services and tasks. At 3Advance, we are most excited about Assistants API, which makes it much easier to build agents without external tools for storage and orchestration. This greatly simplifies the process of integrating ChatGPT within our apps. Finally, DALLE-3 is available via the API, but at 4 cents per image, cost may stifle usage. It’s astounding stuff, more so when you consider that it’s been less than a year since ChatGPT was released to the public. #AIKings Read more here.

📉🏢 WeWork – Meteoric Rise and Collapse as Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filed

WeWork, the pioneer of co-working spaces, was valued at $47 billion not so long ago. Today, stock trading has been suspended as the company files for bankruptcy, reporting liabilities of up to $50 billion. The fall from grace has been spectacular, but unsurprising. The pandemic obviously had an impact, showing folks they could work from home (and proving to businesses that they could trust their employees to work in their pajamas). But WeWork also had leadership problems, including the debacle of its disastrous failed IPO in 2019. There are still many allegations swirling around founder Adam Neumann, including accusations of defrauding WeWork investors. So, we don’t think this is the end of the WeWork saga story just yet. #WeDon’tWork Read more here.

🗞️ News – The Other Stories Catching Our Eye this Week

🙈 BAYC Hong Kong Event Leaves Attendees Blind. Yes, you read that correctly. A party hosted by Bored Ape Yacht Club (the world’s biggest NFT community) went horribly wrong when attendees were left with eye irritation and, in some cases, temporary blindness due to the UV lighting. We smell an expensive lawsuit. Get the details here.

🪲The Beatles release final track with a little help from AI. Back in June, we reported that the surviving members of the Beatles were using AI to complete an unreleased track. It has now been released, and it’s pretty good. Listen for yourself here.

🧐 Stat of the Week: 1K Plays

🎶💰 Spotify – Details of Royalty Threshold Divide Opinion

Spotify has new rules around royalties that are set to come into force in 2024. The main point of contention is that artists will need at least 1,000 plays to start earning royalties. Previously, any track longer than 30 seconds was eligible. Critics say it demonetizes smaller artists, whereas Spotify argues they want to reward quality. For context, know that only around one-third of the 100 million+ tracks on the platform have achieved more than 1,000 plays. #SpotifyRules Read more here.

🕸️ What’s dAppening?

🪙🚫 Crypto – The SEC Is Having Difficulty Hiring Crypto Experts

The Securities and Exchange Commission, viewed as a bête noire by many in the web3 industry, is having a hard time hiring crypto experts to join the organization. The reason? A report points to the fact employees in this role aren’t allowed to hold cryptoassets, with the SEC confirming that potential candidates for roles refused to divest their crypto holdings. While some have highlighted this as vindication that those who ‘understand’ crypto ultimately ‘believe’ in it, we’d argue that there is a broader picture here. Governments, the world over, are having difficulty hiring experts in particular tech fields – AI, crypto, cyber-security – because those experts can earn more in the private sector.  #Web3Hiring Read more here.

Meanwhile at 3Advance...

In October, 3Advance was buzzing with excitement, especially during our time at DCSW! We gathered in the capital for networking and knowledge sharing, with our ChatGPT open-office hours stealing the spotlight on Day 3. We were thrilled to assist many in creating personalized AI playbooks and received a fantastic response to our upcoming product workshop… (We’re still working our way through sign-ups 😅 but you can still join the queue here). For now, check out the recap videos over on DC Startup Week’s YouTube channel.

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