ChatGPT Tells a Story

1 million users in five days.

The artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT reached a million sign ups in less than a week – faster than Spotify or Instagram. 

ChatGPT made headlines for its ability to produce plausible responses when presented with a question or a prompt. The output is often surprisingly realistic (if a bit robotic).

The technology has its limitations. Considering it pulls only from existing content around the web, it is simply regurgitating what’s already been published. That means any content it produces delivers no new insights or interpretations of trends – not exactly what you want if you’re a business looking to show value to your audience.

That hasn’t stopped millions of users from having fun with it.

It’s gone so viral, in fact, the millions of sign ups ended exceeding company capacity. Users who tried to sign up during peak popularity were met with an error message of sorts.

Every Interaction Tells a Story

There’s a lot to unpack with AI and its implications for marketing (and the future of civilization). But it’s safe to say that the humans behind this “at capacity” message took an inspired approach.

It’s a useful reminder that every audience touchpoint is an opportunity to advance your story. Everything from a creative 404 page to automated customer service prompts are part of how you engage with your audience.

Rather than turning customers away or leaving a default website error up, ChatGPT took the opportunity to share its broader story with interested users.

The message provides a clear explanation of what’s happening, a reason for it, and a call to action to stay connected.

More importantly, it showcases ChatGPT in action by showing a prompt and an output. An acrostic poem is a decidedly human creation. The fact that the bot can create passable prose shows how the platform can imitate human phrasings.

So even if you weren’t among the first million users, your interest was still rewarded with a chance to see ChatGPT in action.