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In late April, a mysterious new chatbot known as “gpt-2-chatbot” emerged on the chatbot assessment site LMSYS.org. As soon as users discovered it, speculation began over whether this could be a new release from OpenAI.
It didn’t just have the same name as an older GPT-2 large language model (LLM) released by OpenAI; it also displayed performance that was on par with and, in some places, even exceeded proprietary models like GPT-4.
After a wave of interest, it was removed from the LMSYS.org website but returned this week as two models: “im-a-good-gpt2-chatbot” and “im-also-a-good-gpt2-chatbot”.
When Techopedia covered the chatbot’s initial surprise release and the controversy surrounding it last week, we concluded that the timing was convenient — taking momentum away from Meta’s Llama 3 — but we fell short of saying OpenAI released it.
However, the indicators suggesting that Sam Altman’s magic lab is behind it continue to pile up.
The Strange World of GPT- 2
Some of the most significant indicators behind the release are Sam Altman’s posts on X: “I do have a soft spot for gpt2,” he posted on April 29, followed up by “I’m-a-good-gpt2-chatbot” on May 5.
im-a-good-gpt2-chatbot
— Sam Altman (@sama) May 5, 2024
Even though this could be idle trolling, why would Altman waste the time promoting another chatbot?
More and more industry experts are also putting the dots together and pointing the finger at Altman and OpenAI.
Kevin Surface, Chairman and CEO of Appvance.ai, a generative AI platform for software quality assurance, told Techopedia:
“We know it’s based on a model by OpenAI (because it crashed at least once, perhaps due to limits and revealed its server).
And we know it has abilities beyond GPT4 so it may be at least Turbo or 4.5.
“Or perhaps it is a scaled-down version attempting to test how close it can perform to, say, a 4.5 with fewer resources. Clearly, Sam Altman is promoting it on X.”
Marshal Davis, President and Founder of Ascendly Marketing, also believes that OpenAI is behind the release.
“All signs point to OpenAI. The name itself, “gpt2-chatbot,” hints at a connection to their GPT series. Plus, Sam Altman’s tweet about having a “soft spot for gpt2” adds more fuel to the fire.
“It is likely their team is behind this, experimenting with new capabilities.”
Is This It? How GPT-2 Might Have Backfired
For many who believe that these gpt-2 chatbots are a new release from OpenAI, their capabilities may leave something to be desired.
Bindu Reddy, CEO of Abacus AI, posted on X:
“The gpt-2 chatbots are back, and all indications are these are indeed the latest GPT-5 versions. They seem to be superior to Opus and GPT-4, but still quite underwhelming compared to the insane hype about GPT-5.”
Though it may be a stretch to say that the new gpt-2 chatbots are GPT-5, OpenAI’s name has a lot of expectations attached to it.
Many technologists expect bigger and better improvements, and while these gpt-2 chatbots demonstrate impressive capabilities against models like GPT-4 or Gemini, they ultimately fall short of what is expected of OpenAI.
In this sense, the buzz around gpt-2 highlights how OpenI is becoming a victim of its own hype — if GPT-5 or the organization’s next official release doesn’t knock it out of the park, then people will be quick to criticize it.
What Can GPT-2 Actually Do?
Pushing all expectations aside, the gpt-2 chatbot has demonstrated impressive capabilities against top proprietary models like GPT-4 and Gemini.
For instance, researchers have noted that “it appears to be in the rough ability level as GPT-4”.
In terms of practical capabilities, one of the most impressive examples of the chatbot in action is being used to create a Flappy Bird game.
Other examples include generating a Tetris clone and solving a physics problem that “every model has gotten wrong.”
However, more than anything, these gpt-2 releases have renewed interest in OpenAI again. They are the closest thing to a successor to GPT-4 or GPT-4 Turbo, so it is unsurprising that people are getting caught up in the hype over this mystery model.
The only question now is whether OpenAI has enough up its sleeve to live up to that hype.
The Bottom Line
As the buzz around gpt-2 dies down, we will inevitably be left with lots of questions.
For now, it looks like OpenAI is behind the release — although we still cannot say for certain.
In any case, we are getting a glimpse of someone’s future — and the attention is returning to OpenAI rather than Meta and Llama 3, at least for the time being.
