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State of the art. Visitors to online galleries of AI-generated art might notice themes that experts say appear repeatedly: often images feature psychedelic swirls reminiscent of 1970s album covers, while others are clearly influenced by Japanese anime. But not everyone is a fan. One human artist was banned from an online forum because his art looked like it was generated by AI. Even if art created by machine-learning technologies still can’t quite compete with human-made art, these technologies might become a useful tool for artistic innovation—or might inspire artists to react against it. [WIRED]
The latest gold rush. During this tech downturn, investors are clamoring to invest in generative-AI companies, pumping at least $1.37 billion into them in 2022 and stoking comparisons to the advent of the internet and mobile devices. The company behind one new generative-AI tool is reportedly in talks to complete a deal that would value it at more than double its 2021 valuation. After the economic downturn hit the tech sector, layoffs, sluggish tech stocks, and plunging crypto prices in 2021 created a lull among investors, which has been broken by the excitement about AI. Young AI start-ups are now seeing a rush of interest to back them. [NYT]
New capabilities. Until recently, machine learning could be used only to observe and classify patterns in content. Generative AI was a breakthrough, made possible only once models were trained using massive amounts of data such as the entire internet. Now, generative-AI models can answer nearly any question and create all types of content, from text and images to videos and simulations. But the technology often isn’t accurate: ask it to create an image of a holiday meal, and you might find an out-of-place bowl of guacamole next to the traditional dishes.
Putting AI to work. Generative-AI tools have the potential to change how many different jobs are performed. Despite the need to proceed with caution with this nascent technology, the opportunity for businesses is clear. After all, as McKinsey Global Institute partner Michael Chui and coauthors note, companies are seeing significant bottom-line impact from AI adoption. Learn about the problems generative AI can solve and why most companies will use out-of-the-box tools or fine-tune these models rather than develop their own.
— Edited by Heather Hanselman, editor, Atlanta
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