OpenAI has unveiled the GPT Store for users of ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Enterprise, allowing users to buy and sell customised chatbots.

The GPT Store is a curated platform (since the introduction of GPTs two months ago, over three million custom versions of ChatGPT have been created) that provides users with access to a range of GPTs that fit specific themes or are tailored to certain tonalities and functionalities, developed by both OpenAI partners and the community.

Users can explore popular and trending GPTs in various categories such as DALL·E, writing, research, programming, education, and lifestyle through the community leader board.

In a blog post announcing the launch of the store, OpenAI says itplans to initiate a GPT builder revenue program in Q1, allowing US builders to earn based on user engagement with their GPTs. Specific criteria for payments will be detailed closer to the launch, according to the blog post.

For Team and Enterprise users, OpenAI has introduced enhanced controls. The ChatGPT Team plan is now available for teams of all sizes, providing access to a private section of the GPT Store with, according to OpenAI, GPTs securely published to their workspace.

DIY Pandora’s Box?

The breakneck pace of generative AI’s proliferation continues to astound, with OpenAI’s latest initiative opening up the LLM arena with little technical obstacles.

You don’t need to be a coder to create a GPT. In fact, the barrier for entry is incredibly low on a technical level – but how high is that barrier in terms of rigour and due diligence with regards to privacy concerns and abuses of power?

And, it again brings up the overarching question of AI: with this great, accessible, increasingly available power, where does the responsibility lie when it is ultimately abused?

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With regards to GPTs, there’s a usage policy that covers the basics, with the four universal policies being: comply with applicable laws, don’t use our service to harm yourself or others, don’t repurpose or distribute output from our services to harm others, and respect our safeguards.

Beyond that, there’s guidance and outlines that strive to keep your GPT on the right side of good taste – nothing sexually explicit, no disinformation, no scams and legal and/or medical advice, among others.

How vociferously OpenAI will endeavour to uphold its usage policy — and whether it’s even realistically possible in the long term —remains to be seen.

In a comment given to DIGIT, Callum Sinclair, partner and head of technology and Commercial at law firm, Burness Paull, said: “There is a plethora of litigation amassing around generative AI, particularly in the US, and serious challenges around ethics, intellectual property, and data privacy.  Notwithstanding usage policies and public pronouncements, the launch of GPT Store will only add fuel to the fire.

“The Centre for Humane Technology has been warning for some time that lack of responsible regulation on AI risks repeating the mistakes made with social media.  Where harmful behaviours and culture have already embedded, it becomes much more difficult to turn the ship around.

“As a society, we are just beginning to understand the incredible possibilities that gen AI affords, but also the huge challenge of avoiding the most harmful potential effects.”