Regardless of your outlook, AI creation tools are here and they’re here to stay, likely becoming more mainstream elements in more common tools – at a pace that’s way higher than you might have initially anticipated.

Today, Semafor reported that Microsoft is finalizing a deal to invest $10 billion into OpenAI, the maker of DALL-E and the now-famous ChatGPT, two of perhaps the buzziest AI tools currently available to the public.

Open Funding

Microsoft already invested $1 billion into OpenAI, as part of the company’s initial funding round in 2019. Now, Microsoft is looking to take a significant ownership stake. That could see these tools integrated into Microsoft’s 365 suite of products, or even LinkedIn, for that matter. Microsoft has also been exploring ways to integrate ChatGPT into Bing, which could spark a new battle for AI integration into Search tools.

For its part, Google said that it doesn’t plan on integrating AI tools into its search systems just yet due to the potential for errors in the results. However, if Microsoft were to reinvigorate Bing by adding these conversational prompts, taking away a share of attention from Google in the process, that might just be enough to force Google’s hand and spark a more rapid shift towards conversational AI as a key search option.

Either way, a significant investment from Microsoft would be a huge boost for OpenAI’s ambitions. OpenAI, at some stage, would need to start monetizing some of its tools if it wants to fund its operations, but integration with Microsoft would change its direction, at least in this respect, and could see these tools become a common sight in more apps and tools.

Under the deal, Microsoft would reportedly get 75% shares of OpenAI’s profits until it can make back this money on its investment, after which Microsoft would assume a 49% stake. The deal would value OpenAI at $29 billion. It’s a significant endorsement of the potential of AR tools, which are already gaining favor and traction. At the same time, there are concerns about how AI outputs can and should be used, including whether or not AI-created visuals violate artist pop copyright, and whether Google will even recognize ChatGPT-originated works in its search engine.

Chinese regulators have made their first steps at implementing guidelines for AI use, which basically circles the idea of using AI to limit misinformation, while China’s also calling on the creators of these tools to include ‘digital watermarks’ in any AI-produced work to optimize detection.

The Wrap

At least right now, AI is better used as a complementary process to help streamline your productivity, not be relied on as a replacement for actual content creators. Despite this, and a myriad of other concerns, it isn’t hard to see the potential for AI tools to become supplementary options to bolster a site or company’s overall process. AI tools can do one thing very differently from search engines – they can simplify and improve other processes besides just searching, which can be a prize-winner in the long run.

Sources

https://bit.ly/3kaMTyP