OpenAI and Google are two major companies working on AI technologies, and they are currently under threat from open source projects. These projects are rapidly growing in size and sophistication and are leaving their deep-pocketed rivals behind with their superior technical prowess. Google recently shared a memo which highlighted this situation and stated that OpenAI and Google have no protection, or “moat”. This is because the advancement of the AI field doesn’t take place over years but within weeks – as demonstrated by Meta’s language model, LLaMA, which for example was able to integrate multiple modalities and add reinforcement learning from human feedback in a matter of weeks.
The immense computational power that seemed to be an immovable obstacle is turning out to be a thing of the past. OpenAI and other organisations have adopted a Software as a service (SaaS) model, providing API-gated access to their services. They are using the GPT-4 model, however this is seen like shopping at Walmart – you don’t have the opportunity to choose what you want, and it may not be the best quality available.
The advantages that wealthy corporations have are fading quickly. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, previously warned about the diminishing returns of throwing more and more parameters at the problem. It turns out that efficient and powerful AI solutions can come from smaller companies and individuals, who may be more agile and flexible than the entrenched corporate interests. The same is true of GPT-4; small scale projects are making big breakthroughs with small pieces of code and some tinkering.
This could represent a disruption to the traditional AI development process and render much of what current big players are doing obsolete. As the anonymous authors, who created this document, note, Google and OpenAI should accept this, share and collaborate and follow their example of agility.
Google has been an industry leader since its inception and they continue to be a top competitor, with a broad range of services that are used by millions of people. They are also heavily invested in AI and advancements in the field, and have many industry leading models and technologies. OpenAI is a startup founded by tech industry luminaries, including tech giant Elon Musk and Sam Altman, to advance artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. Their mission is to ensure that AI-driven technology is both ethical and beneficial for society, with their research into areas such as natural language processing often leading the field.
