Avoid the ChatGPT Dependency Trap

I want to emphasize the importance of considering the potential risks associated with building your company on top of ChatGPT. While leveraging this powerful AI tool can provide significant advantages, it is crucial to remember that your reliance on a single partner may pose certain risks to your business. If something goes wrong with ChatGPT, it can directly impact your operations, leaving you with little leverage or bargaining power.

To mitigate these risks, startup founders should be well-informed about ChatGPT’s partner strategy, API strategy, economic billing strategy, and acceptable use case strategy. Understanding these aspects is essential in order to have a clear picture of your relationship with ChatGPT and how it might influence your business in the long term.

It is advisable to treat ChatGPT as an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) model, using it to quickly launch your business while concurrently developing your own technology based on open-source models or other alternatives. This approach will ensure that you are not solely reliant on a single vendor for the growth and sustainability of your business.

As an example, consider Netflix’s transition from relying on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to creating their own content delivery network (CDN) called Open Connect. Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, has always emphasized the importance of adaptability and foresight in business, saying, “Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they frequently die from moving too slowly.” By building their own CDN, Netflix reduced its dependency on a single provider and gained greater control over its infrastructure.