TE2023.3.4/Investors are going nuts for ChatGPT-ish artificial i

Intelligence services

Investors are going nuts for ChatGPT-ish artificial intelligence

 going nuts （发狂）

投资者正为类似chatgpt的人工智能疯狂

Even Elon Musk wants his own AI chatbot

就连埃隆·马斯克也想拥有自己的人工智能聊天机器人

Feb 28th 2023 | 

SINCE CHATGPT’S launch in November, a mini-industry has defied the broader slump in tech. Not a week goes by without someone unveiling a “generative” artificial intelligence (AI) based on “foundation” models—the vast and complex algorithms that give ChatGPT and other AIs like it their wits. On February 24th Meta, Facebook’s parent company, released a model called LLaMA. Elon Musk, boss of Tesla and Twitter, reportedly wants to create an AI that would be less “woke” than ChatGPT. One catalogue, maintained by Ben Tossell, a British entrepreneur, has just grown to include, among others, Isaac Editor (which helps students write essays) and Ask Seneca (which answers questions based on the stoic philosopher’s writings). ChatGPT may be much talked about and, with over 100m users, talked to. Yet Mr Tossell’s database hints that the real action in generative AI is in all manner of less chatty services enabled by foundation models.

自 ChatGPT 在11月份推出以来，一个小型产业在技术行业中挺拔而起。每周都有人发布基于“基础”模型的“生成式”人工智能（AI）——这些庞大而复杂的算法给予ChatGPT和其他类似AI以智慧。2月24日，Facebook的母公司Meta发布了一个名为LLaMA的模型。据报道，特斯拉和Twitter的老板伊隆·马斯克想创建一个比ChatGPT更少“觉醒”的AI。英国企业家本·托塞尔维护的一个目录，刚刚增加了Isaac Editor（帮助学生写作文）和Ask Seneca（基于斯多葛哲学家的著作回答问题）等等。ChatGPT可能被广泛谈论，并与超过1亿用户交谈。然而，托塞尔先生的数据库暗示，生成式AI的真正行动在于各种基于基础模型的不那么健谈的服务中。

launch上市，发行

artificial intelligence人工智能

algorithms算法,

catalogue目录，编入目录；列举，记载

entrepreneur企业家

stoic philosopher斯多葛派哲学家

chatt 饶舌的；爱讲闲话的；非正式的

Each model is trained on reams of text, images, sound files or other data. This allows them to interpret instructions in natural language and respond with text, art or music. Though such systems have been around for some time, it took a consumer-facing service such as ChatGPT to capture the world’s—and investors’—imagination. As Mike Volpi of Index Ventures, a venture-capital (VC) firm, says, this happened just as his fellow tech backers, burned by the cryptocurrency crash and the empty metaverse, were on the lookout for the next big thing. In addition, even more than web browsers and smartphones, foundation models make it easy to build new services and applications on top of them. “You can open your laptop, get an account and start interacting with the model,” says Steve Loughlin of Accel, another VC firm.

每个模型都是在大量文本、图像、声音文件或其他数据的训练下完成的。这使得它们能够解释自然语言的指令并以文本、艺术或音乐进行回应。虽然这样的系统已经存在一段时间了，但是像ChatGPT这样的面向消费者的服务使得全世界和投资者的想象力都被吸引。正如风险投资公司Index Ventures的Mike Volpi所说，这正好发生在他的技术支持者的同行，由于加密货币崩盘和空洞的元宇宙而烧钱，正在寻找下一个大事件。此外，与网络浏览器和智能手机相比，基础模型使得在它们之上构建新的服务和应用程序变得更加容易。"你可以打开你的笔记本电脑，获得一个帐户，并开始与模型进行交互，"风险投资公司Accel的Steve Loughlin说。

venture-capital,风险资本，风险投资

cryptocurrency加密电子货币

crash破产，倒闭，暴跌,

metaverse元宇宙（虚拟空间）

Money is flooding into the business. In January it was reported that Microsoft poured $10bn in OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT, on top of an earlier investment of $1bn. Pete Flint of NfX, another VC firm, now counts more than 500 generative-AI startups. They have so far collectively raised more than $11bn—and that is excluding OpenAI (see chart). Mr Volpi talks of a “Cambrian explosion”.

资金正在涌入这个行业。据报道，微软在一月份向ChatGPT背后的初创公司OpenAI注资了100亿美元，这是之前的10亿美元投资的加码。风险投资公司NfX的Pete Flint现在数了数，发现已经有500多个生成式AI初创公司。他们迄今已经共筹集了超过110亿美元，不包括OpenAI在内（见图表）。Volpi先生谈到了“寒武纪大爆发”。

So which generative-AI platforms will make the big bucks? For now, this is the subject of head-scratching in tech circles. “It’s just not clear if there will be a long-term, winner-take-all dynamic in generative AI,” wrote Martin Casado and colleagues at Andreessen Horowitz, one more VC firm, in a recent blog post. Many startups offer me-too ideas, often more feature than product. Even the resource-intensive foundation models may end up as a low-margin commodity: though proprietary ones such as OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 are ahead, open-source alternatives aren’t far behind.

那么，哪些生成式AI平台将赚大钱呢？目前，在科技圈内，这仍然是一个让人头疼的话题。"在生成式AI领域，长期来看是否会出现赢家通吃的动态，现在还不清楚，"安德森·霍洛维茨的马丁·卡萨多和同事们在最近的一篇博客文章中写道。许多初创公司提供的是与众同行的想法，通常更像是一个功能而非产品。即使是资源密集型的基础模型也可能最终成为低利润商品：尽管专有模型如OpenAI的GPT-3.5处于领先地位，但开源替代品也不会落后太远。

commodity商品，货物

head-scratching令人头痛的 

low-margin低利润

Generative AI is also tiptoeing into a legal minefield. The models often get things wrong. And they can go off the rails. Sydney, the chatbot Microsoft is developing for its Bing search engine using OpenAI’s tech, has insulted a few users and professed its love to at least one (it has since been reined in). AI platforms may not enjoy the legal protection from liability that shields social media. Copyright holders of web-based content on which existing models are being trained without asking permission or paying compensation are up in arms. Getty Images, a repository of photographs, and individual artists have filed lawsuits against AI art-generators such as Stable Diffusion. Stable Diffusion says, “We take these matters seriously. We are reviewing the documents and will respond accordingly.” News outlets fear text-gobbling AIs, too (see subsequent article).

由于ChatGPT的推出，一场小型工业已经脱颖而出，尽管科技行业整体低迷，但每周都会有人推出基于“基础”模型的“生成”人工智能（AI）。这些模型在大量的文本、图像、声音文件或其他数据的训练下，能够解释自然语言的指令，并以文本、艺术或音乐作出回应。虽然这样的系统已经存在一段时间了，但消费者面向的服务ChatGPT使得全球和投资者的想象力受到了吸引。各种类型的非语音服务也已经开始开发，而这比网络浏览器和智能手机更容易建立在基础模型之上。资金也大量涌入这个行业。Pete Flint的NfX公司现在统计了500多个生成AI初创企业，他们已经集资超过110亿美元，不包括OpenAI（见图表）。Martin Casado和他在Andreessen Horowitz的同事在最近的一篇博客文章中写道：“目前还不清楚，在生成AI中是否会出现长期的赢家通吃的动态。”，这也是技术界正在思考的问题。AI平台也可能没有社交媒体所享有的法律责任保护。已有版权持有人针对在未经允许或付费的情况下对现有模型进行训练的基于网络的内容，提出了反对意见。Getty Images和个别艺术家已对Stable Diffusion等AI艺术生成器提起诉讼。新闻媒体也担心文本摄取AI（请参见后续文章）。

liability责任，义务

copyright版权，著作权

minefield布雷区；充满隐伏危险的事物

insult侮辱，冒犯

OpenAI is already downplaying the launch later this year of GPT-4, the highly anticipated update to its foundation model. It won’t temper VC types’ appetite for generative AI. For more risk-averse investors, the safest bet at the moment is on the providers of the ample processing power needed to train and run foundation models. The share price of Nvidia, which designs chips useful for AI applications, is up by 60% so far this year. Cloud-computing services and data-centre landlords are rubbing their hands, too. Whichever AI platform comes out top, you can’t go wrong selling picks and shovels in a gold rush. ■

OpenAI已经在淡化今年晚些时候推出的GPT-4的发布，这是其备受期待的基础模型更新。然而这并不会降低风险投资者对生成式AI的热情。对于更为风险厌恶的投资者来说，目前最安全的选择是提供培训和运行基础模型所需的大量处理能力的供应商。设计对AI应用有用的芯片的Nvidia的股价今年迄今已经上涨了60％。云计算服务和数据中心房东也在期待着。无论哪种AI平台成为主流，赚取一笔黄金热潮中的提供“铁锹和镐”的服务都不会有错。

downplay 淡化

anticipated 期待的

temper 缓和

risk-averse 风险厌恶的

cloud-computing 云计算

data-centre 数据中心

rub hands 翘首以盼

[本篇文章翻译和词汇整理直接借助chatgpt生成的，文章供学习参考用]