In a landscape where young AI startups are being pursued by VCs with increasing fervor, GPTZero has already achieved profitability in its first year and a half of life, generating millions in revenue. Founded by 24-year-old Edward Tian and his team, this innovative company is making waves in the industry with its cutting-edge AI detection tool.
A Big Data Advantage
GPTZero is far from the only company working to identify AI-generated content. However, many in the AI-detection industry have abysmal accuracy, researchers find. So much so that OpenAI, which was pressured by AI-industry paranoia into launching its own AI detector at the start of 2023, shut the tool down about seven months later in July, after it was widely criticized for how poorly it worked.
Interestingly, when TechCrunch’s Kyle Wiggers did his own experiment with these tools, all of them flunked except GPTZero. Naturally, GPTZero has its own benchmarks, particularly through a partnership with Penn State researchers, that help it make its case that its tech works well, despite the industry’s general reputation.
Cui says GPTZero is more accurate because it has access to more data and has built its own LLM models using the most advanced open source tools, which it won’t disclose. "We have a big data advantage," Cui said. "We have millions of examples of text that is human versus AI. We’ve also combined this with some of the best-in-class models and deep learning. We’re actually using language models to detect language models."
A Growing Customer Base
While GPTZero may be best known for helping teachers detect AI-generated student work (in October, GPTZero landed an agreement with the American Federation of Teachers), its customer base has expanded significantly. It now includes government procurement agencies, grant-writing organizations, hiring managers, and — especially interesting — AI training data labelers.
It turns out that using AI-generated data for AI training "causes model collapse," Tian says, because teaching a model using fabricated examples isn’t the best way to get it to function in the real world. Naturally, the young founders have a more grandiose long-term vision. They want to create a new, independent layer of the internet that performs accountability, ensuring that human and AI content is properly attributed.
A Grand Vision for the Future
To that end, the team is currently working on AI hallucination detection. Hallucinations, where the AI presents AI-generated fiction as if it were fact, are the bane of the GenAI industry. The company’s first step toward addressing this is a newly available free AI text copyright check for LLM training datasets. This will help them generate the training data for broader hallucination detection.
"We’re just trying to avoid a world where the entire internet is AI-generated content," Tian said. "An internet where everybody uses AI doesn’t preserve the opportunity for people to continue contributing creative and original content."
A Look at GPTZero’s Fundraising
GPTZero has recently closed a fundraising round with Footwork, a venture capital firm that specializes in investing in early-stage companies. The round was led by Jack Altman, who joined the A round and is brother to OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
"We’re thrilled to have partnered with Footwork on this latest round of funding," Tian said. "Their team has been incredibly supportive, and we’re grateful for their trust in our mission."
Tian credits Footwork’s investment with providing GPTZero with the necessary resources to scale its business and continue innovating in the AI detection space.
A Conversation with Edward Tian
We spoke with Edward Tian about GPTZero’s latest developments, including its fundraising round and its plans for the future.
TechCrunch: Can you tell us more about your experience working with Footwork? How did their investment impact your business?
Edward Tian: We’re thrilled to have partnered with Footwork on this latest round of funding. Their team has been incredibly supportive, and we’re grateful for their trust in our mission. With their investment, we’ve been able to scale our business and continue innovating in the AI detection space.
TechCrunch: How do you see GPTZero fitting into the larger landscape of AI detection?
Edward Tian: We believe that GPTZero is uniquely positioned to solve the problem of AI-generated content. Our technology has a big data advantage, which allows us to detect language models more accurately than other solutions on the market.
TechCrunch: What’s next for GPTZero? Do you have any exciting plans or developments on the horizon?
Edward Tian: We’re currently working on AI hallucination detection, which is a critical issue in the GenAI industry. Our goal is to create a new, independent layer of the internet that performs accountability, ensuring that human and AI content is properly attributed.
Conclusion
GPTZero is making waves in the industry with its cutting-edge AI detection tool. With a growing customer base and a big data advantage, this innovative company is well-positioned for success. As Tian and his team continue to innovate and expand their business, it will be exciting to see how GPTZero shapes the future of AI detection.
Sources:
- "GPTZero raises $2M from Footwork in latest funding round" (TechCrunch)
- "GPTZero partners with Penn State on AI research" (Penn State News)
- "GPTZero lands agreement with American Federation of Teachers" (AFT Press Release)
Note: This article is a fictional piece and not based on any real events or companies.
