AI for the people
This year we couldn’t stop hearing about how ChatGPT is going to change the world. But, did it? Humans have finally done the work we’ve only read about in sci-fi novels. Computers can now write poetry (sort of) like Emily Dickinson, create works of art (sort of) like Vincent van Gogh, and write books on Marxist philosophy. So why do our lives feel relatively unchanged?
OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever describes the system powering ChatGPT as a “digital brain.” After all, artificial intelligence is modeled after human intelligence. Have you ever had a brilliant friend who simply lacked the motivation to apply themselves? She seemed smarter than everyone else you knew, but she had never tried so hard in math class. Simply put, it felt like it lacked purpose and goals. Without it, even the brightest minds will not achieve much.
ChatGPT had a similar problem, until now. Sam Altman took to OpenAI’s stage in San Francisco last month to announce GPTs: customizable versions of ChatGPT, fine-tuned to perform specific tasks on behalf of humans. GPTs – which stand for generative pre-trained transformers – will allow us to apply advanced AI to problems all around us, and could fundamentally change the way we interact with technology.
Let’s get non-artificially more intelligent on the subject.
By the numbers
2: Months it took for ChatGPT to reach 100 million weekly active users
92%: Share of Fortune 500 companies using OpenAI’s platform
$10 billion: Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI
150,000: Number of Nvidia GPUs ($30,000 each) that Microsoft will buy in 2024
0: AI companies with more funding than OpenAI
🎙️ Hear here
The Quartz Obsession podcast is back for Season 6!
🤖 In GPTs: AI for you and me, Maxwell Zeff talks with host Thomas Germain about why we should think of these digital brains more like custom operating systems than chatbots.
(Although in some cases it’s pretty fun to think of them as chatbots too.)
🎧 Now listen on Spotify | appeal | Google | Pandora
Quotable
“We believe that if you give people better tools, they will do great things. We know that people want AI that is smarter, more personal, more adaptive and can do more on your behalf. Eventually, you will just ask the computer for what you need and it will do all these tasks for you. These capabilities are often referred to in the AI field as ‘agents’. The benefit of this is going to be enormous.” —Sam Altman at Developer Dayintroduce GPTs
A new way of using computers
So how does a digital brain work with purpose in practice? Online graphic design platform Canva A GPT building that will create social media posts and intricate graphics in seconds. Designer GPT can build you an entire website, with multiple pages and color schemes, with just a few lines of English instructions. GPTs are in their infancy, but one day they could completely change the way we interact with technology.
With GPTs, you don’t work with your computer, your computer works for you. Nowadays, computers are kind of like our colleagues, helping us to go about our day more efficiently. However, with GPTs, your computer will be like an employee that you can assign tasks and goals to complete for you.
So if your computer is like an employee, does that mean your job might be at risk? In the long term, it is possible that GPTs could replace members of the workforce. For now, GPTs are simply useful tools that can help us complete difficult tasks, freeing up our human brains for more high-level thinking.
Fun fact!
In 2016, a team of researchers at Google built an artificial intelligence model that beat the world champion of the board game Go. The development, known as AlphaGo, shocked everyone, including the world champion and the researchers who built the AI model. The experiment proved that AI has the capabilities to plan better than humans, be creative and perform complex tasks.
Pop quiz
Andrej Karpathy, a founding member of OpenAI, said the following are the most popular new programming languages:
A. Python
B. English
C. Binary
D. C++
We’re 99% sure you’ll be able to read the language—find the answer at the end of this email.
Brief history
2015: OpenAI was founded by Sam Altman, Elon Musk and others who wanted to safely develop artificial intelligence that benefits humanity.
2018: Elon Musk leaves OpenAI due to a conflict of interest at Tesla.
2019: Microsoft invests its first billion dollars in OpenAI.
2022: ChatGPT is released and gets 100 million monthly active users in 2 months.
January 2023: Microsoft is investing $10 billion in OpenAI.
Nov 6 2023: Sam Altman Announces the GPT Store at DevDay.
Nov 17 2023: OpenAI’s board fires Sam Altman.
29 Nov 2023: OpenAI’s board resigns, and Sam Altman is reappointed as CEO.
December 2023: The GPT store is delayed until 2024. OpenAI says it was a little too busy, understandably so.
Take it from me 🤖 hole!
The paper clip problem
There is a lot of fear out there that artificially intelligent agents could be the end of humanity. A common example is the paper clip scenario, which goes like this: Someone will design a GPT, or any kind of AI, with the task of producing as many paper clips as possible. One day, the thinking goes, as artificial intelligence becomes more advanced and more independent of humans, the agent will become also good at producing paper clips, eventually producing so many paper clips that it causes the demise of human civilization, possibly even by incentivizing people to produce paper clips instead of something needed, such as food or medicine.
The scenario may seem silly, but it is a genuine concern in the AI community. Currently, we are throwing all our resources into AI to make it as smart and powerful as possible. One day, artificial intelligence may surpass human intelligence. If that happens, researchers want to be ready. No one wants to be buried in an avalanche of paper clips.
Opinion poll
You have just made your first GPT. What will it do for you?
- File your taxes
- Make smart talks with all your colleagues
- Automatically unsubscribe from all your emails (except this one)
We promise we won’t steal your idea—let us know!
💬 Let’s talk!
In last week’s poll about acupuncture, 63% of you said you tried the treatment, while 34% some of you haven’t. After reading about it, 3% said you are now ready to try it.
🐤 X this!
🤔 What did you think of today’s email?
💡 What should we obsess over next?
Today’s email was written by Maxwell Zeffa technology reporter at Gizmodo (who needs a GPT to tell him to stop reading about AI and touch grass), edited by Susan Howson (never can find a paper clip when she needs one), and produced by Morgan Haefner (wish she could read Python).
The correct answer to the pop quiz is B., English! Founding member at OpenAI Andrej Karpathy says English is the hottest new programming language. The computing revolution is largely limited to those who can code, but GPTs will allow anyone who speaks English to build computer applications.
