The artificial intelligence (AI) sector is experiencing a major boom following the launch of ChatGPT last November by OpenAI, one of the leading research and development companies. ChatGPT is a groundbreaking platform that produces content automatically. Seeing the potential in this new technology, many tech giants have released their own versions, causing a surge of investment from all around the world. Investors pour billions into AI startups, estimating that it may eclipse the dot-com bubble.
Businesses have quickly started integrating generative AI into processes like customer service, marketing, and software development. Its potential is not left unnoticed, with Tesla boss Elon Musk planning a ChatGPT rival. In fact, the total global corporate investment into AI has grown an incredible 150% since 2019 and 30-fold since 2013. Multiple versions of ChatGPT, such as ChatGPT-4 and AutoGPT, have been released in rapid succession.
East-West rivalry surrounds AI development due to China rapidly closing the gap, with Deutsche Bank revealing the nation to now be responsible for 18% of all high-impact AI projects, next to the US’s 14%. Questions arise on how an authoritarian government like Beijing could use such powerful technology to gain further control of its population and, perhaps, the world. Others dismiss the fear as Chinese leaders themselves have anxieties over the power of algorithms.
On the contrary, the US is not regulating AI yet; thanks to the strong lobbying of big tech. This has detrimental consequences, leading to an AI arms race with no entity in management. Meanwhile, Europe struggles with investor risk-aversion which hampers startup growth. Attempts to create a European AI infrastructure with LEAM and the Heidelberg based-startup Alef Alpha demonstrate the intent, but it is yet to be seen how much Europe can recover its lost ground.
OpenAI, the company responsible for the ChatGPT craze, is an AI research laboratory founded by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and others. The San Francisco-based research lab has pioneered a range of industrious projects, from an innovative reinforcement learning to developing an AI research summit, which brought together the world’s leading experts. The company launched GPT-3 in 2020, which performs more tasks than any other AI model before. OpenAI’s main goal is to solve the grand challenges posed by artificial general intelligence.
Max Tegmark, an MIT professor and AI expert, gave his insights on the issue. He was saddened by the AI arms race and stressed the need to stay within the limits of acceptability. He also commented on the US hesitance to regulate AI, as tech giants see it as a risk. Despite the risks, it is fair to say that many are exhilarated at uncovering the possibilities that come with AI advancement.
