--- title: "OpenAI Signals That It’ll Destroy Startups Using Its Tech to Build Products" description: "OpenAI has emerged as one of the forerunners in the ongoing AI race, building on the immense popularity of its AI chatbot ChatGPT, and gaining a tremendous amount of influence in the burgeoning industry. Now, the company has sent out a clear message to other startups that could start eating into its profits: if you're […]" date: "2023-10-31" modified: "2023-10-31" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-signals-destroy-startups-using-its-tech" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatgpt" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI Signals That It’ll Destroy Startups Using Its Tech to Build Products ![OpenAI's released a new update to ChatGPT, which allows users to upload PDFs. The update effectively killed dozens of startups.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## ChatGPT Wipeout OpenAI has emerged as one of the forerunners in the [ongoing AI race](), building on the immense popularity of its AI chatbot [ChatGPT]() to gaining a tremendous amount of influence in the burgeoning industry. Now, the company has sent out a clear message to other startups in its ecosystem: if you're using OpenAI's products to make a buck, we might soon rip the rug out from under your feet. Specifically, OpenAI [released a new update]() to ChatGPT over the weekend that allows subscribers to upload PDFs to ChatGPT Plus, letting the chatbot summarize their content. While that may be a boon to office workers who are saddled with poring over endless PDFs, [*Insider* points out]() that the move is a death stroke for businesses that have built products that use OpenAI's system to help customers process PDFs. It's a stark reminder that Big Tech's decisions can easily vaporize smaller players — perhaps more so than ever in the ever-shifting field of AI entrepreneurship. "Many startups just died today," Alex Ker, founder of AI incubator P-ai, [tweeted](). "It's a rough world out there." ## Wrapping Up In a LinkedIn post, product lead at payments giant Stripe Sahar Mor issued a dire warning. "OpenAI just executed a move that will wipe out dozens of AI companies," he wrote, referring to "wrapper" companies that heavily rely on APIs, programming interfaces that allow developers to programs to talk to each other. Other businesses that had tied their product to OpenAI's were distraught as well. "We're one of the 'victims' hit by this update," Alex Reibman, a data scientist who built a ChatGPT plugin that allows users to scan PDFs, [tweeted](). In a [poll](), Reibman gauged whether people were willing to continue using his tool over OpenAI's. The vast majority answered that his plugin will "see less usage." **More on OpenAI:** *[OpenAI Team Tasked With Stopping AI From Triggering Nuclear Armageddon]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()