Snapchat logo, photo by Chesnot/Getty Images
Snap has announced it’s rolling out its own experimental chatbot “My AI” as part of a subscription product called Snapchat+ which can recommend gift ideas, plan getaway trips, suggest recipes and write haikus based on OpenAI’s GPT technology. But the company warned in a blog post that its AI is subject to “hallucinations” and can be tricked into saying anything. It also told users not to disclose anything secret or to rely on it for advice.
Amid the excitement and fears over the potential for the technology, there’s been swift deployment of generative AI across companies that has some embracing it for productivity gains, and others banning it over security and legal considerations.
Just how big a leap the technology is and where it sits on the AI roadmap remains to be seen.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Alphabet Chair and Google CEO Eric Schmidt have hyped this moment as an “intellectual revolution” the likes of the Enlightenment. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, they said the technology is poised to generate a new form of consciousness as it distills billions of items of textual material from the internet, books and other sources into human-like reasoning.
But AI thought leaders, like Meta’s Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun and former Salesforce’s Chief Scientist Richard Socher, have been actively debunking the idea that generative AI is anywhere near achieving such “consciousness” and that it is simply a tool to aid humans in gaining efficiencies. Socher is the founder of You.com, a search engine with AI chat.
With battle lines being drawn, here’s a look at some of the companies that have gone all-in as early adopters, and others that are waiting it out.
Strategy Consulting Firms
Leading the charge to speed adoption through enterprise, OpenAI has forged a partnership with strategic consulting firm Bain & Company to integrate tools like chatbot ChatGPT, image generator DALL-E and text-to-code programming model Codex into their Fortune 500 clients’ marketing, sales, customer service, software development and business operations. Bain has also embedded OpenAI tools into many of its own internal processes, according to its Feb. 21 press release.
Rival consultancy PwC Australia is taking a different approach experimenting with the technology while prohibiting staffers from using ChatGPT on client projects. “Our policies don’t allow our people to use ChatGPT for client usage pending quality standards that we apply to all technology innovation to ensure safeguards. We’re exploring more scalable options for accessing this service and working through the cybersecurity and legal considerations before we use it for business purposes,” Chief Digital Information Officer Jacqui Visch told the Financial Review.
Consumer Goods
The Coca-Cola Company is working with the OpenAI x Bain alliance to integrate ChatGPT and DALL·E into its content creation and brand experiences. “We see opportunities to enhance our marketing through cutting-edge AI, along with exploring ways to improve our business operations and capabilities,” said James Quincey, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, in the Bain announcement.
Meanwhile after experimenting with the technology for its Super Bowl ad, Avocados From Mexico decided to pull the plug on making its commercial with ChatGPT, a spokesperson told me.
Media
Last month, media outlet Buzzfeed struck a $10 million deal with Meta to create content for Facebook and Instagram using OpenAI’s APIs. In a blog post, Buzzfeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said the company plans to use AI tools to help their creator network write more engaging posts with features like personalized quizzes where readers fill in the blanks to get a romcom written about them in 30 seconds. With 20% of Buzzfeed’s content coming from its creator network generating over a billion views last year, Peretti sees AI boosting the bottom line. “AI opens up a new era of creativity, where creative humans like us play a key role providing the ideas, cultural currency, inspired prompts, IP, and formats that come to life using the newest technologies,” he said.
Medium is also allowing its creator network to use ChatGPT on the platform as long as it’s disclosed, according to a blog post by its Vice President of Content Scott Lamb. CNET which had been creating AI-generated content for months, took a pause last month amid questions over inaccuracies and disclosures, according to The Verge.
Forbes has strictly prohibited its use.
Finance
Heavily-regulated banks and investment houses like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank have all restricted employee access to ChatGPT, according to Bloomberg.
Yet, generative AI has become a darling of venture capital with some of the most visible investors in the space including Bessemer’s Sameer Dholokia, Coatue’s Thomas Laffont and Caryn Marooney, Lightspeed’s Gaurav Gupta, Greylock’s Saam Motamedi, General Catalyst’s Deep Nishar, Bloomberg Beta’s Amber Yang, Sequoia’s Konstantine Buhler, Founders Fund’s Leigh Marie Braswell, Benchmark’s Miles Grimshaw and Kleiner Perkins’ Bucky Moore. Several of which will be speaking at Cerebral Valley’s AI Summit on March 30 in Hayes Valley, San Francisco.
Updated with Snap details.
