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This sounds about right. I think it's acknowledged that OpenAI's strength has been product rather than just pure research - google and facebook both have way mo

This sounds about right. I think it's acknowledged that OpenAI's strength has been product rather than just pure research - google and facebook both have way more publications and deeper benches, but aren't really commercializing anything. The shift to commercialization (by companies) was inevitable. It's also a bit sad though. Somebody still has to do the fundamental stuff, and Google (along with Facebook) have been amazing for the ecosystem, especially open source. If everyone is going the OpenAI route, the golden age of AI is going be be over as we to the profit extraction phase

dougmwne 3y ago
I see your point, though I think it's ultimately going to be good for AI progress. So far the research has been mostly a vanity project for these companies. Who knew if there was really any gold at the end of those rainbows. Eventually the appetite for participating in the research paper olympics was going to run out, probably right at the same time that monetary policy stayed tight for too long. The possibility of building a trillion dollar company on this tech means a whole lot more investment, more people entering the field. More people excited to tinker in their spare time and more practical knowledge gained. More GPUs in more data centers. Eventually things will loop back around to pure research with that many more resources applied. It sure beats an AI winter, which probably would have been the alternative had LLMs not taken off.
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sangnoir 3y ago
> google and facebook both have way more publications and deeper benches, but aren't really commercializing anything. I am absolutely certain that Google and Facebook are productizing their AI research and integrating it with their money-making products and measurably earning more money from the effort. Perhaps what you mean by "commercializing" is packaging AI in direct-to-consumer APIs? IMO, that market is not currently large enough to be worth the effort, but is almost certain GCloud will continue to expand ML support.
visarga 3y ago
> Somebody still has to do the fundamental stuff, and Google (along with Facebook) have been amazing for the ecosystem, especially open source A new golden age for university research? It has been completely made irrelevant in the last 3 years, and now it has the chance to capture fundamental research back. Let corporations worry about products, as has always been.

dougmwne 3y ago

I see your point, though I think it's ultimately going to be good for AI progress. So far the research has been mostly a vanity project for these companies. Who knew if there was really any gold at the end of those rainbows. Eventually the appetite for participating in the research paper olympics was going to run out, probably right at the same time that monetary policy stayed tight for too long. The possibility of building a trillion dollar company on this tech means a whole lot more investment, more people entering the field. More people excited to tinker in their spare time and more practical knowledge gained. More GPUs in more data centers. Eventually things will loop back around to pure research with that many more resources applied. It sure beats an AI winter, which probably would have been the alternative had LLMs not taken off.

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sangnoir 3y ago

> google and facebook both have way more publications and deeper benches, but aren't really commercializing anything. I am absolutely certain that Google and Facebook are productizing their AI research and integrating it with their money-making products and measurably earning more money from the effort. Perhaps what you mean by "commercializing" is packaging AI in direct-to-consumer APIs? IMO, that market is not currently large enough to be worth the effort, but is almost certain GCloud will continue to expand ML support.

visarga 3y ago

> Somebody still has to do the fundamental stuff, and Google (along with Facebook) have been amazing for the ecosystem, especially open source A new golden age for university research? It has been completely made irrelevant in the last 3 years, and now it has the chance to capture fundamental research back. Let corporations worry about products, as has always been.