The GPT Store: Hype vs. Reality

Promising Yet Problematic: The GPT Store's Rocky Launch Highlights Potential and Pitfalls in Developer Experience and Functionality

The long-awaited GPT Store is here! Unfortunately, the platform falls flat in terms of functionality and developer experience.

While the GPT store could one day be a marketplace as big as Apple’s App Store, it wasn’t the most transformative feature OpenAI released last week. Let’s dive in.

Functionality Fiasco → After OpenAI’s Demo Day in November, the entire tech industry was geared up for a diverse range of GPTs, ready to revolutionize workflows and bring customization to the company’s flagship product – ChatGPT.?

To recap: first, they released CustomGPTs.?

An interactive tool that allows users to develop and deploy their own versions of ChatGPT – all within a no-code editor. CustomGPTs have the ability to write + execute code, generate images, execute API calls and read files.?

After the OpenAI leadership debacle in December, we now have the GPT Store.?

After a week of the GPTStore being out, the overall impression is that the functionality of the store is a major WIP.

• Each GPTStore category only has 12 CustomGPTs highlighted. There’s no space to leave reviews, engage with developers, or give them feedback.

• No basic QA/QC process for what gets allowed on the GPTStore. Numerous GPTs with the same name. No way to properly vet GPT developers. And most concerning is the growing awareness that the authentication workflow presents significant risk of scam and fraud. In this workflow, users are taken away from the OpenAI website and are asked to give permissions to third-party applications – all without appropriate vetting of how and which apps can ask for this permission.
• 25% of the DALLE section is logo generators, and the “Featured” section at the top of the store hasn’t changed once since its release. This signals a pretty distinct lack of curation and attention to detail when it comes to content development.

Dev Experience Downer → One of the major downsides of the first version of the GPTStore has been the developer experience, and the fact that it's not really a store.

As Christ Guest, CEO of Traction Design, stated in his article: “In fact from a commerce perspective one could argue that a “store” isn’t really the right metaphor at all. With only a select number of makers being rewarded for their popularity, this is more like Spotify than the iTunes Store, let alone App Store.”

Now, the perspective here is that developers are paramount to the success of these CustomGPTs.?

Just as social media platforms provide pathways for creators to monetize their content, developers will need a pathway beyond engagement-based compensation for their work building CustomGPTs with OpenAI. If OpenAI continues to only allow engagement based compensation, the quality of what's in the store will stagnate and, eventually, deteriorate.?

ChatGPT for Teams > GPT Store → While the GPT Store was definitely the most popular update, ChatGPT for Teams is currently the most practical and useful update for those looking to test, and eventually adopt, ChatGPT.?

Previously, ChatGPT had a one-size-fits-all subscription model: $20/month for limited access to GPT 4, along with access to the Plug In Store (now the GPT Store) and unlimited access to GPT 3.5. Those who wanted to use ChatGPT – but needed 100% confidence that their chats weren't going to be used to retrain GPT in the future – had to either fill out a form and hope their request would get approved, or inquire about an Enterprise plan.

After last week’s update, ChatGPT for Teams introduces a new model for smaller organizations to take advantage of ChatGPTs power, providing greater flexibility and an easy to use admin dashboard to manage users & billing. The big difference between getting a normal ChatGPT account and ChatGPT for Teams is that those on a Teams account don’t have to worry about their data making it into OpenAI’s training datasets.?

This guarantee opens the potential for wholesale adoption of ChatGPT by all types of enterprises including local governments, non-profits, agencies, and small businesses.?

This big, albeit singular, feature has resulted in a 20% price increase to $25, $5 over the normal ChatGPT+ price point.?

Unfortunately, this price point may reflect the true cost of the ChatGPT services, with many outlets reporting that the users on the $20 ChatGPT+ price point may get grandfathered in later this year as GPT 4.5 or 5 rolls out.

Our Biggest takeaway: Bullish on GPT store, but still a WIP

Every week, the MJ Ventures team plans to have a Dark-Horse Hot Take, where our entire founding team takes a stance on a particular Hot Take. This week’s Hot Take is whether GPT 5 will make most of the Custom GPTs in the GPT Store irrelevant. Here’s what our team thinks:

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