OpenChatKit is described as the first open-source ChatGPT, providing a robust foundation for creating both specialized and general-purpose chatbots. It's a collaborative effort involving LAION and Ontocord, and it emphasizes community contributions and continuous improvement. OpenChatKit is built on a 20 billion parameter model fine-tuned for chat, capable of handling a variety of natural language tasks. It includes an extensible retrieval system for augmenting responses with up-to-date information and offers tools for customization and moderation. For more detailed information, please visit their official website at OpenChatKit.