The internet is humming with the latest developments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). OpenAI, a startup partly owned by Microsoft and the creator of the popular AI program ChatGPT, has recently released its latest model, GPT-4, which has got YouTube in a social influencer frenzy like they had consumed ergot with their cappuccinos. Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing division of the e-commerce Big Daddy Amazon has got into bed with Hugging Face, another AI startup. Over in Apple, the acolytes are testing the impact of new AI models on Siri. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook – sorry, Meta – is planning to “turbocharge” his social media platform with AI. And Google has launched its own AI chatbot, Bard, giving the finger to ChatGPT.
It’s a fight to the death in the infosphere, an AI duel at dawn.
A wave of different AI models are making their way from the lab to the world of things. Big tech is leading the charge, with all five major players laser-focused on AI maximising the potential in their key products. It’s far from certain who will win out, or which model will prevail.
China is also making significant strides in AI, with both China and USA vying for control of the AI market. Who controls the infosphere controls the future.
AI tools can be used for surveillance and intrusion into private space, raising questions about the appropriate use of such technology.
AI has the potential to disrupt much of the services that we take for granted from healthcare to transportation. The new “generative” AI models, such as GPT-4, are seen as a game changer. ChatGPT has the human-like ability to generate text, images, and music by analyzing online content and predicting what the user wants to know. New apps will know what you want before you even know it.
Marketing will become more focused on shaping consumer’s desires, rather than meeting them. Manipulation becomes the name of the game.
Firms are investing heavily in research and development, with expenditure of $223 billion poured into R&D in 2022, with Big Tech gambling big time, like a Las Vegas card reader. Betting the company on AI is almost a macho badge of honour.
Microsoft reports 25% of its targeted acquisitions are AI related, such as Nuance, which specialises in speech recognition for healthcare. While Microsoft has taken the lead in equity stakes and acquisitions related to AI, Alphabet aka Google has not been resting on its laurels, with acquisitions and equity stakes including DeepMind, an AI lab acquired in 2014. DeepMind has achieved significant advances in science with success in predicting the shape of proteins crucial in drug discovery and the elimination of previously incurable diseases.
Cash rich Apple is focused on acquisition with almost half of its targets related to the AI field. These include ai.Music, which generates personalized tunes, and Credit Kudos, which assesses loan applicant creditworthiness using AI.
At the heart of this battle to control the AI infosphere is the question of who should have the power to develop and deploy AI technologies, and how these technologies should be regulated and governed. Big Tech offer what their customers want but what customers want is not necessarily what is good for them. Free marketeers argue that the development of AI should be left to private companies and the free market, while more cautious elements propose that government intervention and regulation are necessary to ensure that AI is developed in an ethical framework.
There are also concerns about the potential impact of AI on jobs and the economy, as well as the potential for AI to be used for malicious purposes, such as cyber attacks and autonomous weapons systems.
AI has become so real so quickly that the legislators, many of who have just realised the importance of email security on unsecured servers, have not got with the program. Likely as not, the battle for control of AI will require a collaborative effort between governments and Big Tech corporations, to ensure that AI is developed and used in a way that benefits society as a whole while minimising the risks and negative consequences.
The problem is that Big Tech can lobby governments with billions at their disposal. As the poet Juvenal said: Quis ipsos custodet custodes? Who guards the guards? An AI program?
Photo by h heyerlein on Unsplash