What's Up With OpenAI? 5 Announcement the AI Startup Made This Week In this article, we delve into the announcements made by the Sam Altman-helmed startup including API-ban in China, healthtech partnerships and acquisitions

ChatGPT maker OpenAI continues to forge new partnerships, announce new product launches, and tackle the adverse questions on AI, almost two years after its inception. One of the major announcements in recent times was OpenAI's partnership with Apple for ChatGPT integration within iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year.

In this article, we delve into the announcements made by the Sam Altman-helmed startup.

Here are five announcements OpenAI made this week-

1. Delayed ChatGPT's new Voice Mode

First teased in May, ChatGPT's "advanced voice mode" was said to be made available to paying ChatGPT users within a few weeks. However, seems like it will take longer than expected. Posted by OpenAI on Discord, the initial idea was to roll out the advanced Voice Mode in alpha to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users in late June. However, technical issues have forced the company to postpone the launch to sometime in July.

"We're also working on improving the user experience and preparing our infrastructure to scale to millions while maintaining real-time responses. As part of our iterative deployment strategy, we'll start the alpha with a small group of users to gather feedback and expand based on what we learn," OpenAI said.

Furthermore, Advanced Voice Mode might not launch for all ChatGPT Plus customers until the fall, subject to meeting certain internal safety and reliability checks.

2. ChatGPT desktop app for Macs

OpenAI's ChatGPT desktop app for Macs is now available for download from the official website. In mid-May, this feature was limited to just GPT Plus subscribers.

However, there's a catch. ChatGPT desktop app will only be compatible with Macs powered by Apple Silicon, running on macOS 14+ or newer versions; not for users having a slightly dated Intel/x86-based Mac.

3. Acquired analytics startup Rockset and remote collaboration platform Multi

OpenAI, on June 21, announced it had acquired Rockset, a real-time analytics database, founded by Indian techies Venkat Venkataramani and Dhruba Borthakur.

"We're excited to be joining OpenAI to empower users, enterprises, and developers to fully leverage their data by bringing powerful retrieval to AI," said Venkat Venkataramani, CEO of Rockset.

OpenAI will integrate Rockset's technology to power its retrieval infrastructure across products. It quickly followed up on this by acquiring Multi (previously Remotion), a startup developing an enterprise-focused, video-first collaboration platform.

"We're beyond excited to share that Multi is joining OpenAI!" said Multi's official blog post. "We've closed new team signups, and currently active teams will be able to use the app until July 24, 2024, after which we'll delete all user data," the blog further read.

4. No-zone for ChatGPT
Chinese state-owned newspaper Securities Times reported, on Tuesday, that OpenAI would be restricting access in China and other countries to its application programming interface (API). The API allows developers of other products to integrate its AI models.

Notably, while ChatGPT is not available in mainland China, many Chinese startups have been able to access the API platform and use it to build their applications.

This aligns with China's existing practice of having its versions of Google, TikTok, and Wikipedia. Notably, this move will give Chinese AI startups a push in the domestic market.

5. Lilly collaborates with OpenAI for treating drug-resistant bacteria

On Tuesday, American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company announced it would be partnering with OpenAI to invent novel antimicrobials to treat drug-resistant pathogens.

"Generative AI opens a new opportunity to accelerate the discovery of novel antimicrobials and the development of custom, purpose-built technologies in the battle against drug-resistant pathogens. This partnership underscores our commitment to addressing significant health challenges experienced by people around the world," said Diogo Rau, executive vice president and chief information and digital officer, Lilly.

Notably, Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top public health and development threats across the global health landscape.

This follows OpenAI's partnership with Color Health to pioneer a new way of accelerating cancer patients' access to treatment.