Quora CEO Discusses AI, Poe Chatbot, and OpenAI’s Non-Competitive Role

Quora’s CEO Navigates AI Controversies and Opportunities

Adam D’Angelo’s Involvement in OpenAI’s Leadership Turmoil

In November, Adam D’Angelo found himself at the heart of a major tech industry controversy. As a board member of OpenAI, the $80 billion AI startup, he was involved in the abrupt dismissal and subsequent reinstatement of CEO Sam Altman. D’Angelo was the only board member to retain his seat during the ensuing restructuring.

Quora’s AI Endeavors and Fundraising

Amidst the OpenAI drama, D’Angelo’s own company, Quora, was making significant strides in AI. The crowdsourced Q&A site launched Poe (Platform for Open Exploration) in February 2023, allowing users to interact with various chatbots, developers to create bots, and offering a bot monetization program and marketplace. Quora also raised a $75 million round, valuing the company at $425 million.

The Future of Crowdsourced Q&A in the Age of AI

With the rise of AI-powered search engines and tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, Quora faces questions about the relevance of crowdsourced Q&A. D’Angelo sees AI as a tool to harness the Internet’s collective knowledge, a pursuit he’s been involved in since his early days working with Mark Zuckerberg on Synapse, a digital music suggestion service that attracted acquisition offers from Microsoft and others.

The Role of Humans in Knowledge Sharing

Despite the AI hype, Quora is experiencing record user numbers, with D’Angelo declining to update the previously disclosed 400 million monthly active users figure. He believes that humans still have an edge over AI when it comes to providing answers:

I think humans are still better at answering questions than AI systems in a lot of cases. They have more real-world experience, they can draw on a broader range of knowledge, and they can provide more nuanced and contextual answers.

However, D’Angelo acknowledges that AI will eventually surpass human capabilities in many areas, and Quora is working to integrate AI to enhance the user experience while maintaining the value of human contributions.

Building and Supporting an AI Developer Community

D’Angelo emphasizes the importance of fostering a strong developer community around AI. Quora’s Poe platform aims to provide developers with the tools and support they need to create innovative AI applications. By offering monetization opportunities and a marketplace for bots, Quora hopes to attract and retain talented developers in the AI space.

As AI continues to evolve, Adam D’Angelo and Quora are navigating the challenges and opportunities presented by this transformative technology. By leveraging the power of AI while preserving the value of human knowledge, Quora aims to maintain its position as a leading destination for people seeking answers to their questions.

The Evolution of Social Networks and AI: Adam D’Angelo’s Perspective

From Social Networks to AI

In a recent discussion with John Smith, a partner at XYZ Ventures, Adam D’Angelo, the founder of Quora, revealed that his initial interest in social networking stemmed from his fascination with artificial intelligence (AI). While AI was challenging to develop at the time, he viewed social networks as an alternative means to achieve a similar concept: people within a social network acting as living, extensive information models, providing news, entertainment, and more to each other.

The Limitations of AI and the Value of Human Knowledge

D’Angelo acknowledged that despite the advancements in AI, it still has limitations in providing answers to all the questions people may have. This, he believes, helps people retain significant value. Quora was founded on the idea that humans possess a wealth of knowledge in their minds that is not available anywhere on the internet, and AI will not have access to this knowledge.

However, AI still faces challenges such as hallucination problems and privacy concerns, making it difficult to rely solely on AI-generated answers, even though newer, more advanced models are gradually making progress in addressing these issues.

Poe: Empowering Developers and Users

The Launch and Growth of Poe

Quora launched Poe to the public last year after a period of closed beta testing. Since then, the platform has introduced features that allow users to create and browse bots in its marketplace.

Benefits for Developers and Users

Poe offers consumers access to various models and bots on the platform. For developers, the appeal lies in the potential to reach millions of users without the need to worry about cross-platform distribution. Developers can monetize their bots on Poe in two ways: through referrals when a user becomes a Poe premium subscriber via their bot, and by setting a per-message rate, allowing them to earn based on the frequency of their bot’s usage.

Challenges and Comparisons

Poe and OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT Store face similar challenges. The ease of creating bots with prompts makes it difficult for developers to stand out. D’Angelo mentioned that Poe already has a million bots, compared to 3 million custom GPTs on ChatGPT. To put this into perspective, it took Apple’s App Store more than five years to surpass the million-app milestone.

Quora’s Poe Faces Challenges in the Crowded AI Chatbot Market

Navigating the Noise

In the bustling world of AI chatbots, Quora’s Poe finds itself amidst a sea of competitors, including spam, similarly named bots, and even those skirting the boundaries of copyright law. The platform has introduced a feature allowing users to engage with multiple bots simultaneously, adding to the cacophony. This abundance of options makes it challenging for users to identify the most effective bot for their needs.

Despite these hurdles, Adam D’Angelo, Quora’s CEO, remains committed to supporting developers in earning a sustainable income by enhancing bot discoverability within the platform. “We have taken a big step forward with the pay-per-message feature, but we also want to help developers get distribution inside the platform as much as possible,” he stated, emphasizing the ongoing efforts to refine Poe’s recommendation system.

Poe’s Growth and Revenue Strategy

While Poe’s user base is steadily expanding, it still trails behind the immensely popular ChatGPT. According to SimilarWeb, Poe boasts 4 million monthly active users in the U.S. (iOS and Android) and 3.1 million worldwide (Android only), paling in comparison to ChatGPT’s staggering 100 million weekly users.

D’Angelo has made it clear that Poe will steer clear of advertisements, instead focusing on its $19.99 per month subscription product as the primary revenue stream. This approach sets Poe apart from other AI-powered tools like Perplexity, Bing Search, and Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), all of which incorporate ads.

While Quora and D’Angelo have not disclosed specific revenue figures, data from Sensor Tower suggests that Poe users have spent $7.3 million on subscriptions since its launch, translating to nearly 40,000 paid users. In contrast, ChatGPT boasts over 1 million paid subscribers.

Integrating AI into Quora and Poe

Quora is already experimenting with AI-generated answers powered by Poe, displaying them alongside a link for users to continue the conversation with Poe if needed.

Quora has started experimenting with AI-powered answers for some questions Image Credits: Screenshot by The Zero Byte

D’Angelo emphasized that Quora’s goal is to ensure AI-written answers are ranked fairly and only surpass human answers if they prove more useful. He also clarified that Quora is not aiming to become an “answer engine,” stating, “Quora is really about human knowledge, and we’ll have AI enhance it.”

In addition to AI-powered answers, Quora is developing AI tools to assist users in crafting their own responses, with plans to release them in the near future. One such tool under testing allows users to generate images based on their answers.

Quora is also leveraging AI to detect and prevent bots or users from using automation to answer questions on the platform, though details about this project remain undisclosed.

Despite recent criticisms from various outlets and users regarding the quality of answers on Quora, D’Angelo remains optimistic about the platform’s future and the role of AI in enhancing the user experience.

Quora’s Decline in Answer Quality and the Role of AI

In a recent discussion on Reddit, users highlighted the significant decrease in the quality of answers on Quora. Adam D’Angelo, the CEO of Quora, addressed this concern, stating that the increased visibility of low-quality answers has contributed to the perception of an overall decline in standards. However, he expressed optimism about the potential of AI in helping the company differentiate between varying levels of answer quality, with early results showing promise.

Quora’s Stance on OpenAI and Collaboration

When asked about Quora’s relationship with OpenAI, D’Angelo refrained from discussing the recent controversies surrounding the AI company, emphasizing his role as a representative of Quora. He clarified that Quora does not view OpenAI as a competitor, given the latter’s broader ambitions of developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

D’Angelo highlighted the distinction between the two companies’ objectives, with Quora focusing on making AI products accessible to the world, including those developed by OpenAI. He further emphasized the ongoing collaboration between the two companies, with Quora being a significant customer of OpenAI.

“We spend a lot of money as a customer with OpenAI, because OpenAI is the biggest source of models for Poe.”

While D’Angelo mentioned that Quora pays “tens of millions” to developers on its AI chatbot platform, Poe, and to companies whose models the platform utilizes, he did not provide specific details on how these payments compared to those made to OpenAI.

Quora’s Approach to Data Licensing and Future Plans

Currently, Quora does not have any data licensing agreements with major companies and is not considering developing its own AI model. D’Angelo emphasized the company’s cautious approach to data licensing, prioritizing the respect for both Quora’s and its users’ rights amidst the evolving AI landscape.

“We are not in a rush to license our data. We want to make sure our rights and users’ rights are respected. Right now, there is not a lot of clarity around how all of this (AI landscape) will play out. So right now, we are just waiting before taking any steps in this direction.”

Having recently secured funding, Quora’s primary focus lies in integrating AI across its business operations and enhancing revenue growth within its existing products. While D’Angelo acknowledged the company’s intention to go public at some point, he stressed that it is not the current priority.