Why ChatGPT still feels like a mystery to the modern tech world

ChatGPT has reshaped technology since its debut three years ago, yet it remains one of Silicon Valley’s biggest mysteries.

Despite its explosive rise, many insiders now admit the product never lived up to early predictions that positioned ChatGPT as a gateway to instant AGI.

That ambitious future, once promoted by industry figures including Elon Musk and others, has not materialised and the gap between hype and reality is becoming increasingly clear.

OpenAI and other developers once suggested that large language models would rapidly 10x worker productivity, automate entire industries, and even outperform PhD-level experts.

Instead, studies show modest improvements at best, with some research revealing negative performance for tasks like coding.

Similarly, corporate adoption hasn’t delivered the returns many expected either, with major surveys showing that only a small fraction of businesses recoup their investment in generative AI tools.

Meanwhile, the broader narrative around AGI has cooled. Claims that models like ChatGPT would surpass human intelligence by 2025 have largely fallen flat, as limitations in reasoning and accuracy continue to surface at scale.

That said, ChatGPT and OpenAI remain central to the AI conversation, reminding the tech world that even transformative tools