In general, Microsoft introduced Beam Builder to customers with Copilot Professional again in March. The key was offering a tool that allowed customers to create and customize GPTs for specific use cases. After three months, though, the company announced that it would be pulling the plug on the tool for consumers this July for reasons that have not yet been disclosed.
When and why is GPT Builder being retired for consumers?
This notification was spotted by Windows Latest, which reveals that Microsoft has started informing users of GPT Builder's retirement via email. This email doesn't go into the details much, but it does provide cancellation instructions for the Copilot Pro subscription - which may well be worth considering for some users, given that GPT Builder won't be available at the $20/month subscription level.
Microsoft had a bit more to say on the subject in a separate support document, explaining that the company is "reviewing" its strategy around Copilot and extensibility in consumer-facing use cases. Consequently, it decided to sunset its consumer GPT Builder offering. Aquila says the firm is still all in with container use, especially for enterprise and commercial support of the technology. For consumers, Microsoft will delete GPT Builder on July 10 and delete GPTs or data created by these API on July 14.
How will I be affected by this retirement?
All consumers can really do in answer to this retirement is either to keep the instructions for their GPTs for future use, or switch off their Copilot Pro subscription. How Microsoft will do it is it will remove all the GPTs and related data of Copilot from its platform so customers cannot retrieve their previously created GPTs. Killing off GPT Builder so soon after launch is a bit unexpected, given that the company is willing to learn how to build Copilot and other AI, as long as supporting them will also pay off.
What's Next for Consumers?
For anyone who was using GPT Builder, its retirement sounds like a big-time blow. It may well be that Microsoft's choice is indicative of a broader strategic refocusing on enterprise and commercial markets. Those who want customized GPT could face an uphill battle in search of other tools or platforms designed for specific, small niche cases.
Alternatives to GPT Builder
With the removal of GPT Builder, consumers might explore other platforms offering similar capabilities. Some potential alternatives include:
OpenAI's API: Allows developers to integrate GPT-3 into their own applications.
Hugging Face's Transformers: Provides a robust library of pre-trained models that can be fine-tuned for specific tasks.
AI Dungeon: A more consumer-friendly tool for creating interactive AI-driven experiences.
Conclusion
Microsoft's retirement of GPT Builder for consumer use is evidence of the tradeoffs tech companies must make as they seek to blend innovation with economic reality. Fortunately for enterprise customers, they will be able to continue to use GPT technologies through Microsoft's offerings, but for consumers, it will take time to find new tools or services able to meet their demands. Osoms highlights that, as AI technology advances, soon enough fresh solutions and usage tools may fill the void left by the departure of GPT Builder.