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| OpenAI: ChatGPT |
The launch of ChatGPT, the latest app sensation from start-up OpenAI, has sparked a "gold rush" in Silicon Valley as investors scramble to find the next big thing in generative AI. The technology, which wades through vast amounts of data to generate original content, is being hailed by some as the beginning of a new era in big tech.
Since its release in November 2022, ChatGPT has become one of the fastest-growing apps ever, with a million people using it in just five days. This has led to Microsoft and Google rushing out their own projects that had previously been carefully guarded.
According to Wayne Hu, a partner at SignalFire, investors are now talking about how ChatGPT might eliminate millions of knowledge worker jobs, disrupt trillion-dollar industries, and fundamentally change the way we learn, consume, and make decisions. Entrepreneurs specializing in generative AI say they no longer need to explain what it is or why it matters, and are finding it easier to attract funding.
Despite the current contraction in valuations and capital-raising in other categories, the market valuations for generative AI companies have been sky-high, says Hu. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is valued by Microsoft at nearly $30 billion, despite still burning through money at a high speed.
The explosion of generative AI comes at a time when tens of thousands of layoffs are occurring in the tech sector, making the trend towards generative AI all the more remarkable.
The appetite for ChatGPT-like capabilities is seemingly limitless, and the demand from customers has increased significantly, says Sarah Nagy, founder of Seek AI. This demand is not only from investors, but also from tech giants like Google, which has invested $300 million to acquire 10% of newcomer Anthropic and its chatbot Claude.
Hu believes that the ChatGPT "gold rush" could be unprecedented and expand well beyond generative AI because the technology minimizes the need for a computer coder or designer to execute ideas. This could lead to a wave of AI that is bigger than mobile or the cloud and more on the scale of something like the Industrial Revolution that changed the course of human history.
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