OpenAI enthroned as the Levis of Tech
OpenAI has launched its ChatGPT API service, powered by the GPT-3.5-turbo AI model. The model is available for $0.002 per 1,000 tokens and can be used for non-chat applications. Early adopters of the ChatGPT API include Shopify, Instacart, Quizlet, and Snap. This is another cornerstone moment for software. The AI-native-era gold rush has just begun.
Levi's was always the actual winner of the gold rush, making a fortune by supplying miners with the tools they needed to extract gold while never involving in the actual competition. They were the arms dealer in this silent war. AWS was the latest Levi's of the tech industry, after the comms companies like AT&T. Just as the gold rush created a massive demand for supplies like jeans and hammers, the digital transformation has made an enormous demand for cloud computing services like AWS. OpenAI just officialized that they will be the next Levi's.
The rise of AI-natives
It is also worth observing how the previous Levi's, AWS, reformed the tech environment; the advent of cloud computing has transformed how we approach software engineering. Some tectonic shifts:
- Fewer expensive On-Premise Engineers -- Gone are the days we needed on-premise system engineers configuring servers and managing infrastructure. We deploy applications without worrying about managing the underlying hardware.
- Shift from Pets to Cattle -- In the early days of computing, companies treated their servers like pets - they gave each one a unique name and invested time and resources individually. But as the number of servers and resources grew, companies began treating their servers and resources like cattle - they invested in tools that allowed them to manage large numbers of resources. This shift enabled companies to scale up their infrastructure rapidly without sacrificing reliability or performance.