# GPTZero

> GPTZero reported $30 million ARR when Superhuman agreed to buy it.

- Owner: Edward Tian and Alex Cui / GPTZero; Superhuman announced an acquisition agreement in June 2026
- Kind: App & software
- Sector: Education
- Seed date: 2023-01-03
- Milestone date: Week of Jan 4, 2023
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak. Some dates are known only to the week, month or year.
- Spread Score: 48 (Notable), v1.3
- Mechanics: Maker origin, Underdog, Platform jump, Controversy, Newsjacking

## Summary

Edward Tian released GPTZero over winter break and shared it on Twitter. Traffic crashed the app as teachers and journalists tested it. Debate over detection errors followed; teacher partnerships, subscriptions and an acquisition agreement came later.

## Timeline

- 2023-01-03 — Edward Tian (Open web) — Tian released the GPTZero beta and linked it in a Twitter thread at 00:17 UTC.
- Jan 2023 — TikTok users (TikTok) — TikTok users called Tian a snitch after GPTZero launched.
- 2023-01-04 — Riley Goodside (@goodside) (X) — Goodside posted a test that bypassed GPTZero, then described an attack using zero-width spaces.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/mcp#api).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/gptzero

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “GPTZero.” Case HIS-01690. Spread Score v1.3: 48/100. Updated 2026-10-25. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01690