The AI Race
Introduction
A number of significant developments in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector have emerged recently. ChatGPT has recently announced GPT-4o: their latest model that allows users to interact with the software in new ways – including via audio and video – in real time. Google has introduced AI overviews of information to accompany search results yielded via its search engine.
With these recent advancements in mind, now is a good time to look at the high-profile AI initiatives and to consider their progress.
Microsoft’s successful partnership
Microsoft first invested in OpenAI in 2019. Their sustained financial support has allowed OpenAI to continually develop ChatGPT, leading to ChatGPT-4o. The “o” stands for omni, which indicates the universality of this feature. ChatGPT-4o will allow users to use video, audio, and text in real time to interact with AI – as though one was simply on the phone to a friend.
Whilst ChatGPT-4 required a subscription to gain access, the “4o update” will make these features free to all. This breakthrough shows a significant leap forward in the field of generative AI: users will be able to interact with AI technology in a manner that would have previously seemed like science fiction.
Google’s AI Experiment
Google launched its AI tool, Gemini, in December of 2023 as a direct competitor to ChatGPT. Google followed ChatGPT’s approach in several ways, including a free basic model available to the public, alongside an advanced model that is only accessible via a subscription fee.
Recently, Google tested a search feature, where an AI-generated summary is delivered to try and answer the user’s prompt. However, this has not been successful in practice. For example, when one user searched “How many rocks shall I eat?”, the machine informed the user that they should eat “At least one small rock per day”.
The issues stem from Gemini being unable to determine what information is correct or incorrect. Gemini appears to be pulling information from The Onion, a satirical news site, and so such information is likely to be false. These failures demonstrate that even though Gemini may be OpenAI’s greatest competition, it is yet to compare to it.
Other initiatives
Nvidia is developing its own AI services, including Deep Learning. However, Nvidia also manufactures GPUs and microchips that are utilised by its competitors to power their own supercomputers and (by proxy) AI tools. Given Nvidia’s dominant position, their market capitalisation has exceeded $2.5 trillion.
While Meta continues to develop their AI model, it is going in a different direction than Microsoft and Google. Mark Zuckerberg has chosen for Meta’s tool to be open source. This allows anyone to use, copy, and adjust the code to their own desire. Although Meta AI is yet to directly compete with ChatGPT and Gemini, the decision to go open source allows the public to contribute to the technology’s advancement.
Amazon-backed firm Anthropic has recently launched ‘Chat with Claude 3’; a generative AI chat-bot to directly compete with ChatGPT and Gemini. Furthermore, Amazon plans to reform its virtual assistant technology, Alexa, using AI to smarten the service for a monthly fee.
Out of all the big technology companies racing for the development of AI, it seems that Apple may be the most behind. This is not to say that Apple is not developing its AI tool. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman – a reputable individual with a history of releasing information of forthcoming Apple announcements – has declared that Apple will soon announce their own AI initative. Gurman has also stated that the technology will have a focus on practicality: to improve the experience of the company’s core apps, including Notes, Photos, and Safari in the next iOS update.
Conclusion
The tech giants are all exploring the power of AI. While Microsoft and Google seem to be the frontrunners, their competitors are working to catch up in their own way. Nvidia continues to benefit from the vicious competition, while Meta strives to garner public support to develop their platform. Evidently, Amazon wants to compete with Microsoft and Google. In contrast, Apple wishes to use AI in a more nuanced way, by enhancing the user experience of its proprietary app services.
By William Payne