2 years of ChatGPT: A Look Back at AI's Transformative Impact
November 30th, 2022 started like an ordinary day. Emerging cautiously from a global pandemic, the world was facing lingering adversity: global economic uncertainty, massive layoffs in big tech, geopolitical instability, and a pervasive air of anxiety.
Yet, unknown to most that day, a single tweet quietly sparked an AI revolution. OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman simply tweeted: “Try ChatGPT.” With no extravagant press releases or flashy product launches, ChatGPT went public—and within days, it reshaped the technological trajectory of the world.
At this critical two-year mark, let’s review the meteoric rise of generative AI and explore what this means for our businesses, careers, and economic future. As a consultancy focused on AI automation, we have mapped crucial milestones to help clarify what’s happened so far, why it matters, and—most importantly—what opportunities AI presents for your organisation going forward.
Early Sparks: The Massive Growth Surge of ChatGPT
ChatGPT reached 100,000 registrations within a day, one million users in just five days, and an unprecedented 100 million in two months, becoming the fastest-growing online product ever—far surpassing TikTok, Facebook, or WeChat.
Why the explosive growth? Unlike previous AI technologies, ChatGPT felt remarkably, unsettlingly intelligent. Instead of the cold, scripted responses from earlier chatbots, it offered human-like understanding, seamless conversations, and logical coherence. This moment marked what many experts—including us—recognised as a fundamental paradigm shift.
Immediate Shockwaves Across Tech Giants
Almost overnight, the biggest tech firms reacted with frantic urgency. Google, whose landmark "Transformer" paper originally paved the way for GPT models, felt intense pressure, issuing a "code red" and scrambling to launch their own AI, Bard, only to endure a costly stumble out of the gate. Facebook pivoted dramatically from the Metaverse to generative AI.
The AI genie was truly out of the bottle, and corporations understood that whoever mastered this genie first would shape the future of business.
AI Becomes a Centrepiece of Societal Concerns
The rapid progression sparked enormous enthusiasm, alongside deep concerns about AI’s long-term implications. Just months after ChatGPT’s initial launch, OpenAI’s GPT-4 emerged, capable of passing law school exams and outperforming most human students. People concerned about AI issued open letters calling for pauses and safety prioritisations.
Yet industry powerhouses ignored calls to slow down: Meta notably launched Llama, leading an open-source revolution where smaller firms and individual developers built powerful AI applications of their own.
Growing Pains, Transformative Gains, and Market Adjustments
By mid-to-late 2023, the world witnessed an explosion of groundbreaking advancements in artificial intelligence, ushering in an era filled with endless potential and incredible opportunities. These exciting innovations represent more than just technological breakthroughs—they’re powerful engines driving positive transformations in how we live, work, communicate, and create.
In February 2024, this wave of innovation reached new heights: OpenAI proudly unveiled Sora, a stunningly realistic text-to-video generative model that amazed the global community. Users, companies, and investors alike recognised the immense potential this revolutionary technology offers, prompting organizations around the globe to enthusiastically embrace video AI, opening doors to unprecedented creative possibilities and transformative business applications.
What This Means: Opportunities for Your Organisation
During this historic rise of AI, it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed—but let’s focus on the incredible opportunities ahead. Artificial Intelligence isn’t just another buzzword or temporary technology fad, nor is it something to fear as an immediate threat. Instead, it represents a fundamental, positive leap forward, offering revolutionary opportunities to enhance productivity, accelerate automation, spark innovation, and unlock new levels of value creation.
Here’s how businesses like yours can benefit concretely today:
- AI-Enhanced Productivity: Integrating AI large-language models, automated agents, and RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) capabilities within organisational workflows to automate knowledge-based tasks.
- After-ChatGPT: Beyond Imaginary Limits: GPT-4o, Claude 3.5, Gemini, and other models enable truly intuitive, conversational AI interactions, which your business can leverage to create entirely new customer experiences.
- Video-First AI: With Sora-style models arriving, businesses can now quickly create commercial-grade video content—traditionally requiring costly human production—at incredible speed and scale.
- Personalised AI Automation: The maturation of small, efficient AI models that run directly on personal or enterprise hardware opens the door to customised, private, and secure AI productivity tools.
- Strategic Adoption and Integration: Capitalising on AI’s potential isn’t just about purchasing software—it requires systematically identifying and acting upon opportunities, maximising ROI strategically, and leveraging expert guidance throughout this transformative journey.
Where We Go From Here: Our AI Automation Vision
Our consultancy specialises in demystifying these fast-moving trends and applying AI effectively into real-world business environments. Over the last 2 years, we have followed and studied every moment of this passionate AI journey and distilled these insights into concrete strategies and executional roadmaps ready for businesses to adopt.
While nobody—scientists, industry leaders, or futurists alike—truly knows exactly where AI is heading, one thing is certain: the tools already exist, powerful enough to shape profound business transformations, new growth, and human-centric innovations. As ChatGPT moves well beyond just “chatting,” a much larger story emerges: that of organisations now empowered to shape their own AI-assisted futures.
"Technological advancement is not meant to render humanity obsolete. Its purpose is to allow humanity to surpass its own limits."
Let’s Write Your Future Together
Today, responsible and visionary integration of AI automation is the greatest differentiator your organisation can adopt. At Lumtry, our experts guide you through this new frontier, ensuring transformative technologies become truly beneficial parts of your enterprise fabric.
Ready to explore what we can accomplish together?
Let’s reshape your tomorrow—through intelligent automation powered by AI.