Despite Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar OpenAI investment, these viral ChatGPT 4o Ghibli memes are another example of just how far behind Copilot is

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I’ve been a passenger on the AI train since the early times of OpenAI, right through to the unveiling of ChatGPT, and ultimately, Microsoft’s significant investment in OpenAI.

Microsoft is generally considered a key player in the AI industry due to its substantial financial investments and strong partnership with OpenAI, being its largest investor and exclusive cloud service provider (until SoftBank entered the picture with its impressive $500 billion Stargate project, potentially disrupting what was once known as the top tech “bromance” in history).

Over the last twelve months, it appears that a division has arisen between Microsoft and OpenAI, and this split can be linked to the unexpected removal of Sam Altman as OpenAI’s CEO by the board in 2023.

In simpler terms, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, acknowledged that OpenAI had a two-year period without significant competition while developing ChatGPT. He saw this as an advantage and aimed to use it to propel Microsoft further ahead in the AI field, potentially outpacing competitors such as Google and Meta.

Despite the significant investment made by Microsoft in OpenAI, it seems that the company hasn’t reaped the full benefits. In fact, OpenAI appears to have favored Apple’s macOS over Windows 11 when releasing ChatGPT’s desktop app. This move could be seen as a slight given Microsoft’s $10 billion investment. OpenAI justified this decision by stating that they were prioritizing areas where their users are most prevalent.

Is OpenAI exclusively preserving the Ghibli effect for ChatGPT, leaving Microsoft Copilot in the cold?

In many instances, OpenAI is the focal point when considering Microsoft’s advancements in artificial intelligence. A well-known former executive at the company contends that Microsoft’s intense focus on AI has resulted in the untimely demise of products such as Azure Cognitive Search, Azure AI Bot Service, and Kinect DK.

However, it appears that despite Microsoft’s investments, there seems to be a delay in gaining access to OpenAI’s premier AI models, including the latest ChatGPT’s image generator model. This raises questions about the visible return on investment.

As OpenAI celebrates the triumph of its latest image creation tool amidst the viral Ghibli meme trend on social platforms, Microsoft Copilot appears to be lagging behind, seemingly shadowed by the spirit of OpenAI’s advanced DALL-E 3 image generation tech that some consider “lobotomized.

To help understand things better, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, highlighted remarkable figures about the swift expansion of ChatGPT’s userbase. In a subtle show of pride, he mentioned that an astounding million new users joined the platform within a single hour. He attributed this significant achievement to the launch of ChatGPT-40.

There’s been no hiding the fact that Microsoft’s Copilot AI hasn’t managed to captivate users as much as hoped. According to inside sources at Microsoft, the primary criticism leveled against Copilot is that it doesn’t measure up to ChatGPT in terms of performance.

Despite the assertions, the company swiftly refuted them, suggesting that ChatGPT isn’t superior to Copilot; instead, the issue lies with improper usage. The company acknowledged that a deficiency in prompt engineering skills was responsible for the suboptimal user experience experienced by some users, leading them to establish Copilot Academy to enhance these skills.

Microsoft’s recent Copilot upgrade appears to be stunting the platform’s user growth as users voice their dissatisfaction on social media platforms. The update seems to have taken a step in the wrong direction for some, with several users expressing that they are migrating to ChatGPT until Microsoft reconsiders its approach.

Ghibli memes will come to Copilot but OpenAI would have already won the race

It seems logical for OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 image generation feature to be incorporated into Microsoft Copilot, given the circumstances. Additionally, this tool has been provided to free ChatGPT users, contrary to initial expectations that it would only be accessible to Premium subscribers due to a reported GPU shortage.

Just as gravity ensures that objects eventually fall back to earth, it seems reasonable to expect that the excitement surrounding Ghibli memes and ChatGPT’s new image generator tool may also experience a similar downward trend over time.

Although the tool appears limitless and without bounds, empowering users to realize their most creative ideas, such a liberated environment could prove temporary.

Key figures within the field, including artists, are already expressing concerns over the unregulated use of this tool due to cases where it has been misused to inflict damage or present situations negatively.

Similarly, the issue of copyright infringement remains a persistent challenge for the creator of ChatGPT. This might draw scrutiny from regulatory bodies focused on antitrust matters, potentially resulting in new regulations and stringent restrictions that may limit the tool’s functionalities.

Nevertheless, it appears that market experts anticipate Microsoft, in collaboration with OpenAI, to emerge as the dominant force in the AI competition, given the rise of Ghibli memes. As Business Insider reports, these analysts suggest that the rapid increase in ChatGPT users might signify a corresponding surge in revenue for OpenAI, implying growth in ChatGPT+, their premium service.

Although it remains uncertain when the Ghibli effect may impact Copilot, experts suggest that the rising popularity of ChatGPT by OpenAI could benefit Microsoft, as this growth potentially increases OpenAI’s development, computational requirements, and overall value.

History is repeating itself in a little over a year

From my perspective, Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI isn’t just about revenue sharing; it also provides Microsoft with exclusive rights to OpenAI’s technology. In return, OpenAI benefits by leveraging Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform for the development and training of AI models, and they receive financial support from Microsoft to fuel their work in the artificial intelligence sector.

Until lately, it appeared that Microsoft was fulfilling their part of the agreement. However, this changed when OpenAI announced the Stargate project, a massive $500 billion initiative aimed at building data centers throughout the U.S., which they believe will strengthen their technological progress.

Through the progression of events, Microsoft no longer holds the exclusive position as both a cloud service provider and largest investor, with SoftBank taking over these roles. Yet, recent news from OpenAI’s latest funding round, which boosted its market value to an impressive $300 billion, indicates that SoftBank may be rapidly depleting its resources and even accumulating debt to meet OpenAI’s intense demand for artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Nevertheless, it appears that both parties have privately expressed discontent with their multibillion-dollar collaboration. On the one side, Microsoft alleges that the OpenAI GPT-4 model fails to satisfy the speed and cost requirements of Copilot 365 users, deeming it “too slow and costly”.

From a different perspective, OpenAI expressed worries and dissatisfaction over Microsoft failing to fulfill its cloud computing requirements. Reports suggest that OpenAI hinted at potential consequences, implying that responsibility might lie with Microsoft if another artificial intelligence laboratory surpasses them in achieving the AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) benchmark first.

It appears that Microsoft’s alliance with OpenAI might be weakening, according to latest news, as Microsoft is reportedly working on creating its own models and testing external ones for Copilot, aiming to reduce its heavy dependence on the company behind ChatGPT.

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2025-04-04 17:10