Tech Companies and Their Obsession With AI

It all began with an artificial intelligence called ChatGPT. Now they're everywhere, and soon they'll be on your laptop and phone as well. Big tech companies are the ones who brought it to you. Is this the start of the AI age, or is this a mistake that could destroy humanity?

By Marco Rizal - Editor, Journalist 15 Min Read
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It all began with an artificial intelligence called ChatGPT. Now they're everywhere, and soon they'll be on your laptop and phone as well. Big tech companies are the ones who brought it to you. Is this the start of the AI age, or is this a mistake that could destroy humanity?

Ten years ago, we believed that Siri, the voice assistant software built into iPhone devices, was groundbreaking due to its ability to perform user-requested activities inside the device.

Right now, we have powerful chat bots that are capable of generating unique recipes, surpassing humans in coding, and providing answers to intricate queries with a just click.

What is noteworthy is that artificial intelligence, as we currently understand it, will continue to enhance over time. OpenAI, the company behind the renowned chatbot ChatGPT, has recently unveiled GPT-4o, a more advanced version capable of real-time reasoning spanning speech, visual, and text.

ChatGPT is not the only chatbot in existence, in fact, there are other artificially intelligent chatbots available on the market today, including Grok, which can only be accessed through the social media site X (previously known as Twitter), and Perplexity.ai, an AI answer engine that offers great answers to inquiries.

Beyond the area of chatbots, there are more use cases for AI technology, ones used by projects such as Sora, for AI-based video creation, and DALL-E, which is used for generating images.

Statista reports that the market capitalization of the AI market has surged from $100 billion four years ago to a current market capitalization of over $700 billion in 2024, which is seven times bigger.

AI Marketcap

The record continues to expand each year, with no apparent indication of when this exponential growth will cease.

There will be a continued creation of companies that are specifically focused on AI, which will bring forth innovative ideas for potential applications of artificial intelligence.

Other tech companies are also being driven to redirect their focus towards the use of artificial intelligence as a result of the impact of this rising trend. It is generally accepted that those who are the first to initiate action in this “next big thing” will emerge as the winners in the AI race.

Therefore it is not surprising that by 2030, the worldwide artificial intelligence market is projected to reach a value of $1.8 trillion.

Capabilities of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence differs significantly from the human mind. These sophisticated technological creations are developed by absorbing information and generating valuable output.

Furthermore, as we have the ability to access the vast pool of worldwide information through a single Google search, these artificial intelligences have taken on the entirety of the internet's content.

Therefore it can provide a great use for people by efficiently doing several repetitive tasks after learning them only once. Additionally, AI has the capability to acquire understanding of computer programming completely.

As a result, it could support programmers in identifying and resolving particular issues at a much accelerated pace. Journalists can also benefit from AI, since it can generate well-structured outlines to assist them in crafting high-quality stories.

Nevertheless, each AI developed by these tech companies serves as an independent tool with its own specific functions, ranging from responding to queries to helping users in improving their grammar and paraphrasing skills.

However, what if there exists an artificial intelligence (AI) that possesses the capability to perform all of those tasks? Introducing, AGI or Artificial General Intelligence. It refers to a speculative AI system that possesses capabilities comparable to those of a human being.

It is capable of speech, sense of hearing, visual perception, and independent cognitive processes with its own thoughts. AGI is greeted with skepticism by numerous experts in the field due to concerns about humans' potential failure to maintain control over it.

If it possesses the capability to do any task or function, there exists a possibility that it may also have a tendency to betray or act in opposition to humans. It resembles a being with exceptional abilities, devoid of any human characteristics.

An exceptionally powerful AI that can be either operated with accuracy like Jarvis or malfunction unpredictably like Ultron. Fortunately, artificial general intelligence is not yet here.

However, pioneers in AI technology are actively engaged in discussions over the anticipated timeframe for the emergence of AGI. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, predicts that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will be developed within a timeframe of two to three years. Shane Legg, co-founder of DeepMind, forecasts a 50% probability of AGI being developed within the next four years.

While some argue that the development of AGI is unlikely to occur over the next decade or so. However, due to the rapid advancement of technology, the pace of progress has accelerated significantly therefore predicting when AGI will be fully created is unknown.

Winning the AI race

Given the projected growth of the AI market in the coming years, tech businesses are eagerly incorporating AI technology into their products and services. Given its position as the “next big thing,” the use of AI is expected to increase significantly in the foreseeable future, indicating its most likely here to stay.

There are already proven instances of AI technology being successfully utilized in the present day. Most were built concurrently with the pioneer, ChatGPT. In addition to image and video generators, a prime example of a valuable application of AI is data analytics software.

This software utilizes AI to organize data and provide users with clear summaries, saving the tedious task of manual organizing. In addition to artificial intelligence (AI) recruitment software, which may analyze a candidate's profile and categorize it according to the specific requirements and preferences of the company in question.

The majority of AI applications that have the highest market caps are ones that are focused on b2b or business-to-business operations. Since AI can replace a great number of white-collar jobs, an advancement in AI can lessen the cost of running operations for a company.

However there are also AI software that target individual users. Numerous productivity solutions employ AI to enhance user efficiency and streamline work processes. There are artificial intelligence systems available, such as Descript and Filmora, that can assist with both video generation and video creation/editing.

Canva, a widely-used graphic design platform, has incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) into its applications and features to replace backdrops, modify specific elements of an image, and perform other functions.

Even prominent technology corporations are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence into their products. Following their acquisition of a significant stake in OpenAI, Microsoft has successfully incorporated the chatbot into their 365 suite and web browser, rebranding it as Copilot.

Recall, an AI system, has also been announced to be available on Windows operating systems. The software, as implied by its name, has the capability to capture regular snapshots in order to document user activity.

This feature enables users to easily search for and review their past actions, serving as a nostalgic journey through the computer's history. Due to privacy concerns, the AI product has faced criticism and Microsoft has postponed its release into computer operating systems.

Google has unveiled the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into its products, such as the Google Pixel phone and its primary revenue generator, the search engine. Google stated during their I/O 2024 event that they will be introducing its AI assistant “Gemini” on their mobile devices.

The company has also introduced AI overviews, which are concise text snippets that will be displayed on the Google search results page. This feature is similar to how ChatGPT presents information, but it will be specifically available when you search for a topic on the Google search engine.

Lastly, Apple has also entered the AI competition, albeit slightly later than the other major tech companies. Apple has announced that it will be integrating its own version of artificial intelligence into its operating system, known as the Apple Intelligence system.

This change will make significant enhancements to Apple devices, such as generative AI picture generation, “Genmoji” bespoke emojis, text summarization, and integration of ChatGPT as well.

It is evident that the companies that implement AI first will bank the money and take the lead for the future. Similar to how companies from the 90s are obsessed with taking part on the internet. The ones who did so has managed to evolve their businesses while others like Blockbuster who did not innovate has gone bankrupt and is now a thing of the past.

Is AI supposed to be the future?

It can be somewhat challenging to determine whether AI is the future or not. Eventually, the products produced by these companies will become the future. These innovators will serve as the early settlers, and future businesses will eventually build upon their footsteps. For instance, there has not been another Blockbuster ever since Netflix introduced online streaming to the world.

In today's time, cinemas and other physical entertainment media enterprises are drying out. This is due to the fact that Netflix has simplified the process of watching movies and TV shows. With a single click, we can access a catalog of available shows, in contrast to cinemas, which only display a limited selection of films on a specific date.

Although it may be an inconvenience to think about it, some of us might be nostalgic for the good old days and the pleasant smell of the cinema room. But at the end of the day, we will still prefer the new way of watching from the comfort of our own home.

However, we cannot make the same claim about the positive aspects of AI. Why, you ask? This is because AI is an unpredictable entity; it is not comparable to a transition to a newer generation in which Netflix manages the server to host all movies for the general public to view.

It is a new piece of technology that has only been known to the world four years ago and as of now it is currently being pushed down our throats whether we like it or not. AI is not fully controlled by humans and it has the potential to become extremely dangerous when an issue arises.

Yet, despite of the risks, it is now being used for almost all things related to the internet and soon there will be many more applications of AI. Not to mention, it is not like traditional software, which can be readily restored from a backup.

According to Bing AI engineers, they currently have the ability to implement a self-awareness kill switch to prevent the AI from becoming aware. However, they said that the AI may have the ability to disengage these switches. Additionally, they can copy and run versions of themselves on other computers.

The important takeaway from this is that AI is a relatively new technology, and despite the fact that technology has advanced at a rapid pace compared to a decade ago, this rapid progression may still not be able to fully and advance on AI.

The cost of developing and maintaining AI is similar to how streaming services were rendered unusable in the early 2000s due to the sluggish internet speeds of the time. Financial analysts predict that Microsoft's AI chatbot Copilot will require a minimum of $4 billion in hardware and infrastructure just to provide responses to Bing users.

What now?

At present, we can only observe the advancements of AI. Although it is continuously being pushed upon us, it may eventually provide tangible value once it has advanced. At present, AI technology is in its infancy, and there are numerous applications for which it has the potential to be beneficial.

Some companies may be able to create more advanced self-driving vehicles than those currently in use, conversational AI for customer service, fraud detection AIs, and security systems to ensure the safety of users.

With that being said, using artificial intelligence for work automation will ultimately cause mass unemployment. Simultaneously, we expect that the regulations for AI will be rigorous and tightly controlled to prevent the negative consequences of potential risks associated with artificial intelligence.

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