In the accelerating race for AI supremacy, no conversation is complete without mentioning titans like Elon Musk and Sam Altman. As they vie with formidable contenders like China's Baidu and ByteDance, the battle for AI is no longer just a corporate or national endeavour but a playground for billionaires with contrasting visions of the future.
Artificial Intelligence is the most pertinent conversation topic in current affairs, and will probably remain so for the next decade - and at the heart of this conversation are Sam Altman and Elon Musk. Whilst both billionaires compete globally for their vision of global AI, they will soon have to contend with others such as China's Baidu and ByteDance. Only time will tell who’s vision for the future will succeed.
From his office in San Francisco, Altman recently shared in an interview the grim potential of AI developed, but deliberately not released. He stated that his team often grapples with ethical considerations, pondering any unforeseen risks tied to their AI creations.
OpenAI, helmed by CEO Sam Altman since 2019, mostly flew under the radar until it captivated Silicon Valley's attention with a groundbreaking AI paper. However, OpenAI’s true potential only became publicly evident after the launch of ChatGPT.
Initially established as a nonprofit, OpenAI aimed to operate "unconstrained by a need to generate financial return," as Altman noted, The Atlantic.
Founded in 2015 by Altman, Musk, and other notable AI researchers, the company's goal was to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), described as an intellectual entity on par with human intelligence.
In a CNBC interview, Musk voiced reservations on Google's acquisition of DeepMind, noting that Google’s some 75% control over global AI talent and raising concerns about AI safety. Musk stated that OpenAI's vision stood in contrast to Google's approach; "OpenAI would be an open-source nonprofit, unlike Google, which operates as a closed-source, for-profit entity."
Acknowledging a lapse in his strategic oversight, Musk admitted to not securing management control during OpenAI's formative stages.
"I was a huge oversight on my part," he said, adding in a subsequent CNBC interview that "OpenAI wouldn't exist without me."
These statements from both Altman and Musk reveal both commercial and ethical quandaries. Of particular concern is OpenAI's business model and its rapid financial ascent. According to a UBS study (and reported by Reuters), within just nine weeks of ChatGPT’s release, the product amassed an estimated 100 million monthly users, setting a trajectory to become the fastest adopted consumer product in history.
The contest between these AI titans, encompassing both ethical and commercial strategies will likely shape the industry and societal norms well into the future.
Beyond Tech: Ethical Complexity and Middle Eastern Investment in the AI Arena
AI isn't just about technological advancement; it's also laden with ethical quagmires. Both China and the U.S. are trying to manage the moral and regulatory aspects of AI, such as data privacy and ethical alignment, while simultaneously dealing with import and export regulations.
The contrasting philosophies of influential billionaires like Musk and Altman will soon have to contend with China’s own AI hub akin to Silicon Valley.
However, Boris Van, a tech analyst at Bernstein has stated that Chinese chatbots were about “a year behind” US counterparts and continue to “lag for the foreseeable future” because of their late public rollout and Washington’s export controls as advanced chips are required for training LLMs.
“The US companies keep building new versions of the models and pushing forward their algorithms. This can only take place if a lot of people are using the models,” he added.
However, The EU, USA and China aren't the only entities carefully scrutinising the AI race. Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) from the Gulf nations like the UAE and Qatar are pouring in substantial investments to join the competition in the burgeoning AI chatbot field.
