OpenAI announced for the first time the ability for people to build custom GPTs almost a year ago. The company described GPTs as an automated, low-code way to create specialized experiences on top of ChatGPT, and said it believed impactful GPTs would be created by non-traditional developers such as teachers, coaches and tinkerers.
The Store would be accessible to customers and builders who paid for ChatGPT Plus, Teams or Enterprise. OpenAI also stated that it would launch an income program for GPT builders and that US builders would be paid based on user engagement with their GPTs. It promised to provide details on the criteria for payments.
The GPT Store officially launched in January 2024. In late March, developer Nick Dobos shared on X a screenshot of an email he said he received from OpenAI inviting him to join the revenue sharing pilot program . Dobos' GPT encryption, Grimoire, is one of the most popular GPTs on the GPT Store, with over 2 million 'conversations' or chats with the app.
According to the email Dobos shared on Dobos did not respond to several emails and direct messages asking about his experiences with the GPT Store since the launch of the pilot program.
When asked about the status of the program, OpenAI referred WIRED to its help page, which provided a brief high-level description of the program and said the company “hopes[s] so that more builders can monetize their GPTs over time.”
Like Villocido, Adrian Lin, who lives in Singapore, was optimistic about the GPT Store. Lin is a full-time AI researcher who has also set up an app lab, Adrian AI Lab. He has no formal training in web or mobile app development, so when OpenAI said creating a GPT requires no coding skills, Lin saw this as an opportunity to build and manage his own products.
It was easy to refine his models based on his intentions, Lin says.
Lin estimates that Copywriter GPT, his GPT that drafts advertising copy, has had between 500,000 and 600,000 interactions. Like Villocido's Books GPT, Lin's is listed on the homepage of OpenAI's Store.
