The tech industry’s favorite buzzword, AI, might not be as promising as it seems. The big players in the field, including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google, are all investing in generative AI, which has the potential to completely revolutionize every industry. Yet there’s one major problem that no one seems to be talking about – the cost.
Experts have pointed out that the massive computing power required for AI is making it difficult for companies like OpenAI to make its latest language model, GPT-4, available to the public. ChatGPT, the platform powered by OpenAI’s language model, is still running a weaker GPT-3.5 model, meaning the underlying data set is outdated. Moreover, GPT-4 is only available to those who pay the pricey fee of $20 per month and are only allowed to send 25 messages every three hours.
The article emphasizes that the cost of implementing AI is a major obstacle to the tech industry’s vision of generative AI being used to enhance efficiency and cut jobs. It’s concerning that even the biggest players in the industry are declining to comment on the issue, especially when they are basing their future growth on the success of AI.
Although AI can make life easier for a number of industries, including healthcare and manufacturing, the huge amount of computing power and financial investment required is a huge barrier that many companies may overlook in their pursuit of cutting-edge tech.
Consequently, according to experts, the astronomical costs may outweigh the benefits, serving as a warning to the tech industry to carefully consider the long-term implications and feasibility of AI.
In short, while the idea of AI might sound promising, the reality of its cost – both to develop and to use – will surely be the cause of intense debate for years to come.