OpenAI’s AI chatbot ChatGPT is now free to download on the AppStore and Google Play, with a Mac desktop app due to be released. 

OpenAI announced that ChatGPT would be available on smartphones during its Spring Update event yesterday (13 May). 

Alongside its ChatGPT apps, OpenAI also released an updated AI model GPT-4o which it states can generate audio, visual and image responses. 

According to OpenAI, GPT-4o usually takes around 320 milliseconds to generate its responses, which is equal to the time it takes a human to respond conversationally. 

GPT-4o has a voice mode that can be used to transcribe text or converse with the user. 

In comparison to other AI models, OpenAI stated that GPT-4o outperforms Meta’s Llama 3, Google’s Gemini Ultra and Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus in reasoning and text evaluation. 

GPT-4o’s text and image generation capabilities will be rolled out into ChatGPT as OpenAI stated that it wanted to work on the availability of its AI tools. 

GPT-4o’s voice mode will be made available to ChatGPT Plus users in the coming weeks. 

OpenAI’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, stated that GPT-4o marked a paradigm shift in the availability of AI to the general public. 

“We’re looking at the future of interaction between ourselves and the machines,” she stated on stage at OpenAI’s Spring Update event. 

Research and analysis company GlobalData forecasts that the global AI market will reach over $1,037bn by 2030, achieving a CAGR of 39% from 2023. 

In its 2024 tech sentiment survey, over 25% of businesses stated that they were extremely familiar with ChatGPT and understood how it worked. 

The same survey also reported that around 30% of businesses already had a high adoption rate of AI into their daily workflows.