Microsoft’s co-founder, Bill Gates, knows a thing or two about paradigm shifts, as he played a key role in personal computers becoming a commodity. Now, he believes, equally important development begins with ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence tools.
“AI will be discussed as the hottest topic in 2023. And you know what? That’s right. It’s as important as the PC, as the internet,” Gates said recently Forbesadding that he now spends about 10% of his time talking to the Microsoft team about the product roadmap, despite his long retirement and focus on philanthropy.
ChatGPT, of course, is an AI chatbot that has been making waves with its ability to answer typed questions with human-like responses. Launched a few months ago, ChatGPT now attracts more than 100 million monthly active users, according to a research note published Wednesday by UBS. It easily reached 100 million faster than TikTok or Instagram, the bank’s analyst noted, adding, “In 20 years after the internet space, we cannot remember a faster ramp in consumer internet applications.”
Microsoft announced last month that it will invest another billion in ChatGPT maker OpenAI, adding to the $1 billion invested in 2019. OpenAI also created DALL-E 2, which can generate impressive images from text prompts entered by users.
ChatGPT’s success comes despite often giving wrong answers and often being inaccessible. But as Elad Gil, Google alum and tough investor, said in a new episode of The Logan Bartlett Show podcast, “if a product breaks all the time but everyone keeps using it, there’s clearly a product-market fit.”
Now, the company Gates founded nearly 50 years ago plans to integrate OpenAI’s “generative AI” technology into a variety of products, including the Bing search engine.
That then has lit a fire in Google, with many wondering if the search dominance can be upended. Parent company Alphabet called on Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help tackle the challenge New York Times reported last month.
Gates also weighed in on ChatGPT last month in an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit. Asked about his opinion on AI chatbots, he replied, “It gives us a glimpse of what’s to come. I’m impressed by all these approaches and the level of innovation.
And asked if there are any “mammoth” technological changes now, he replied, “Big AI … AI is quite revolutionary.”
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