OpenAI CPO: From Itzehoe to San Francisco

To prove that he can speak German, Nicholas Turley greets the audience at the OMR Festival with the words: Moin Moin. The 30-year-old comes from Itzehoe, but lives in Silicon Valley and seems to have already assimilated. Everything is very "exciting", especially the upcoming launch of GPT-5 and how AI will now reach the world of work in a very practical way.

The interview is conducted by OMR podcaster Christian Byza, who also lives in the Valley. Two Germans speaking English on stage. At the beginning, there is a quick round of questions in which the guest only has to answer yes or no. Is AGI already here? That is a question of perspective and understanding. AI is already smarter than humans in many areas, says Turley.

"Everything that can be built should be built?" Turley says clearly: "Yes!"

Unleashing raw technology on the world

Fittingly, the Chief Product Officer raves about his employer. He likes to play with technology when it is still a bit raw. At OpenAI, they like to let the world experiment early on and then see how something is received. However, OpenAI is also repeatedly accused of not adhering to particularly high security standards precisely because of this. Most recently, Sam Altman himself explained that the latest model in ChatGPT was too "slimy" and therefore posed risks. GPT-4o was therefore updated as quickly as possible, Altman wrote on X. Turley says he talks to Altman several times a day.

Turley is already praising GPT-5, confirming that there will be an upcoming model with this name. It is, of course, "amazing" and "combines several models in a very elegant system". It is unclear when GPT-5 will be released. "I hope you get to see it soon." Turley apologizes for the names of the models – who would know what GPT stands for – and explains that this had to do with the fact that they tend to launch unfinished products on the market. ChatGPT, for example, was only supposed to run for a month as a test. We all know what happened.

AI replaces SEO

At an event for the marketing and digital industry, the focus is also on the possibilities of monetization and the advertising environment of AI. Turley says that there will be no more SEO as we know it. Above all, he believes that SEO and content farms will disappear. What counts is good and unique content. It is not yet clear how the creators will be paid. Whether there will be ads in ChatGPT was also not a topic on stage.

According to Turley, how we interact with computers will change fundamentally. This is why OpenAI is also interested in buying Chrome should Google have to give up the browser business by court order. "Browsers and chatbots will merge in many ways." What was previously done in the browser will in future partly be done in the chatbot. This in turn will become a super assistant that knows everything about you and can take on tasks for you both at work and in your private life. Turley also finds the memory function, i.e. the memory that ChatGPT can have on request, "exciting."

(emw)