OpenAI’s Custom ChatGPT Store to Open Soon, Making AI More Approachable

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announces custom AI apps called GPTs at a developer event in November 2023.

Stephen Shankland/CNET

OpenAI plans to open its GPT Store this week, the artificial intelligence powerhouse told developers in recent days, marking a new chapter in the development of its ChatGPT chatbot technology.

ChatGPT is a chatbot based on the company’s GPT-3 and GPT-4 large language models. In November, OpenAI began letting developers use ChatGPT to create their own “GPTs,” custom versions of ChatGPT tailored for a specific purpose and augmented with their own extra information.

OpenAI is planning to make these GPTs easier to find and use through its GPT Store, a parallel move to Apple’s App Store for iPhone apps. And like that and other app stores, the GPT Store will offer a way for GPT creators to profit from use of their GPTs.

If successful, the GPT Store would mark a new moment making AI technology more approachable, useful and profitable, cementing OpenAI’s leadership in the area as a company that consumers value.

The company has let people build their own GPTs but so far has only let them share GPTs through the cumbersome process of copying and pasting web addresses. That’s set to change now. “We want to let you know that we will launch the GPT Store next week,” OpenAI told developers on Jan. 4, according to several GPT creators.

OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

An OpenAI illustration of an app store for “GPTs,” its term for custom AI tools you now can develop for your own needs and customized with your own data.

OpenAI