OpenAI has opened a waitlist for a paid premium version of ChatGPT. The experimental ChatGPT Professional service would offer some benefits over the current free version, such as faster response times (no throttling), at least two times more daily messages, and constant availability, according to OpenAI. More: - In a Discord post, OpenAI said it's exploring ways to monetize the AI system to help "ensure its long-term viability."
- The post links to a Google Docs form where people can sign up to be on the waitlist for Professional ChatGPT access.
- Users must fill in answers to questions like how much they'd be willing to pay for ChatGPT access in exchange for greater access.
- OpenAI said it will contact those selected for the pilot to set up the service and payment process.
- The company noted that it's not currently making paid pro access generally available.
Zoom-out: - As previously noted by CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI spends in the single-digit cents on average for every ChatGPT chat, and "the compute costs are eye-watering."
- The San Francisco AI company said it's still in the early stages of thinking about how to monetize ChatGPT.
TECHCRUNCH 
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Mental health support service Koko faces accusations of unethical behavior after it tested an AI chatbot on its platform without first notifying patients. The peer-to-peer service used a GPT-3-powered chatbot to provide counseling to about 4,000 customers as part of an experiment, according to Koko co-founder Rob Morris. Background: - Koko, a nonprofit mental health platform, connects people seeking mental health support to human volunteers through Discord and other messaging apps.
- Users initially face questions from a bot before they're connected to a volunteer.
- In the case of the GPT-3 bot, the volunteers had the option to respond on their own or use OpenAI's large language model to craft a reply.
- The AI-composed messages were supervised by humans, according to Morris.
Criticism: - However, the test drew criticism over concerns that Koko violated the federal informed consent law requiring human subjects in research to give their consent.
- Morris said the test was exempt from the law because he does not plan to formally publish any results.
- "Every individual has to provide consent to use the service," Morris said. "If this were a university study (which it's not, it was just a product feature explored), this would fall under an 'exempt' category of research."
Results: - The AI responses were "rated significantly higher" than human-written messages on their own, according to Morris.
- Using the AI, response times decreased by 50% to under a minute.
- However, once users were made aware that the messages were co-written by AI, "it didn't work," Morris said.
- "Simulated empathy feels weird, empty," he added.
ARS TECHNICA
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Turnitin, an anti-cheating software maker, said it plans to introduce a service that can tell whether a student used OpenAI's ChatGPT to write an assignment. A beta release of the AI detector could launch sometime this year. More: - While the initial beta release won't be able to detect ChatGPT writings all of the time, it will provide a way for the company to get feedback from teachers on how to tweak it, said Turnitin chief product officer Annie Chechitelli.
- "We're hearing from educators that they want different tools at their disposal, whether straight detection or other features to validate," she said.
- Turnitin AI VP Eric Wang said ChatGPT and other models that are trained on "the sum of human models" are often discernable because "they write extremely average."
- Humans, on the other hand, are "idiosyncratic," he said.
- The company's detection software would have to be updated regularly to keep up with new releases of the AI text generator.
- Meanwhile, ChatGPT creator OpenAI has said it is also working on a tool to detect if text was created using the chatbot.
Zoom-out: - Turnitin already offers software that detects plagiarism and some types of AI-generated writing. About 16,000 school systems worldwide currently use Turnitin.
- Similarly, a Princeton computer science student built an app, called GPTZero, that he says can identify text written by ChatGPT.
- Earlier this month, New York City's Department of Education restricted ChatGPT access across its public school devices and networks.
BUSINESS INSIDER
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German vaccine maker BioNTech SE said it's acquiring British enterprise AI specialist InstaDeep for £562M ($682M). BioNTech said it plans to use InstaDeep's machine learning to develop personalized cancer treatments and improve upon its drug discovery process. It is the German company's largest acquisition to date. More: - BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer on the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine, has worked with InstaDeep since 2020.
- The two previously partnered on a project for a joint AI innovation lab to create novel immunotherapies. They also introduced an AI-based "early warning system" to identify potentially dangerous coronavirus variants.
- BioNTech plans to integrate AI into all aspects of its biotech and novel immunotherapy works, including target and lead discovery, manufacturing, and product delivery.
Zoom-out: - A year ago, InstaDeep secured $100M in a Series B funding round that included participation from BioNTech.
- Headquartered in London, the company offers AI/ML to enterprises in electronics manufacturing, logistics, biotech, and more. For example, its reinforcement learning tech can help design optimization strategies for companies.
FINANCIAL TIMES
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DeepL, a startup using deep neural networks to provide translation-as-a-service to businesses, announced a funding round valuing the company at more than $1B. CEO Jaroslaw Kutylowski did not disclose the exact amount, saying only that it was a "significant size." More: - Previous reports have placed the amount at $100M or higher.
- Leading the round was venture firm IVP, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico, and WiL.
- Since its formation in 2017, Cologne, Germany-based DeepL has built a language translation engine that relies on a deep neural network approach.
- The novel AI design can purportedly understand the nuance in sentences and phrases to convey them more accurately in the translated language.
- DeepL says its works mostly with smaller and medium-sized businesses. It plans to spend the fresh funding on new product ventures, further expansion into the enterprise, and fundamental AI research.
VENTUREBEAT
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🍋 FRESH FUNDING 🍋 - Volta Medical (France), develops artificial intelligence software to assist cardiac electrophysiologists during arrhythmia treatment: $37M B led by Vensana Capital with participation from Lightstone Ventures and existing investor Gilde Healthcare.
- Worlds Enterprises (Texas), aims to build the Industrial Metaverse through 4D technology: $21M A1 led by Moneta Ventures with participation from Align Capital, Green Park & Golf Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Piva Capital, PerotJain, and Capital Factory.
- Qritive (Singapore), uses Artificial Intelligence to diagnose cancer: $7.5M Growth led by MassMutual Ventures, with participation from SEEDS Capital and Exfinity Venture Partners.
- NLX (New York), a platform for creating, managing, and analyzing customer conversations: $4.6M Seed led by IAG Capital Partners with participation from JetBlue Ventures and Flying Fish Ventures.
For the latest on AI startup funding and more in the VC community, check out our Inside Venture Capital newsletter.
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- CNET has been using AI "automation technology" to generate a small percentage of articles, which are still edited and fact-checked by human staff members.
- Beautiful.ai is rolling out DesignerBot, which uses OpenAI's generative AI to create text, layouts, photos, and more for presentations based on a single text prompt.
- Tech marketing agency Codeword has been using human-like digital software models — what it calls "interns" — to complete some graphic design, research, and editorial tasks.
- During an address on Tuesday, Pope Francis warned that AI is becoming "increasingly present" in daily life, and people must work to make sure that the technology's discriminatory effects do not impact the world's "most fragile and excluded."
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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