雅思口语9分带你阅读《经济学人》：Investors are going ...
Business
March 4th 2023| 742words
Generative AI
Intelligence services
Investors are going nuts for ChatGPT-ish artificial intelligence
生成式人工智能
智能服务
投资者热衷于投资ChatGPT式人工智能
Even Elon Musk wants his own AI chatbot
甚至连埃隆·马斯克都想要自己的AI聊天机器人
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SINCE CHATGPT’S launch in November, a mini-industry has defied the broader slump in tech.
自去年11月ChatGPT推出以来，一个小型产业在科技普遍低迷的大环境下异军突起。
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.
每周都有人推出基于“基础”模型的“生成式”人工智能（AI）——这些庞大而复杂的算法为ChatGPT等AI赋予了智慧。
On February 24th Meta, Facebook’s parent company, released a model called LLaMA.
2月24日，脸书的母公司Meta发布了一个名为LLaMA的语言模型工具。
Elon Musk, boss of Tesla and Twitter, reportedly wants to create an AI that would be less “woke” than ChatGPT.
据报道，特斯拉和推特的老板埃隆·马斯克想要创建一个不需要像ChatGPT那样“唤醒才能用”的AI。
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).
英国企业家本·托塞尔维护了一个目录，目录刚刚新增了众多生成式AI服务，包括Isaac Editor（帮助学生写论文）和Ask Seneca（基于斯多葛派哲学家的著作回答问题）。
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.
虽然ChatGPT备受关注，并且有超过1亿用户与之交流。但托塞尔先生的数据库表明，生成式AI真正应用是各种基于基础模型的非问答服务。
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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.
每个模型都经过了大量文本、图像、声音文件或其他数据的训练。这使它们能够理解自然语言的指令，并能以文本、艺术或音乐作出响应。
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.
尽管这样的系统已经存在一段时间，但ChatGPT等面向消费者服务的出现，才引起了世界投资者们的无限遐想。
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.
风险投资公司Index Ventures的迈克·沃尔皮称，正当他的技术人员因加密货币崩盘和空洞的元宇宙而烦恼时，ChatGPT问世了，此时他们正在寻找下一个风口。
In addition, even more than web browsers and smartphones, foundation models make it easy to build new services and applications on top of them.
此外，基础模型更容易在网页浏览器和智能手机上构建新服务和应用程序。
“You can open your laptop, get an account and start interacting with the model,” says Steve Loughlin of Accel, another VC firm.
另一家风险投资公司Accel的史蒂夫·洛夫林说：“你只要打开笔记本电脑，获得一个帐户，即可开始与模型互动。”
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Money is flooding into the business.
资金正涌入这个行业。
In January it was reported that Microsoft poured $10bn in OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT, on top of an earlier investment of $1bn.
据报道，微软在1月份向ChatGPT背后的初创公司OpenAI注资100亿美元，此前曾投资10亿美元。
Pete Flint of NfX, another VC firm, now counts more than 500 generative-AI startups.
根据风投公司NfX的皮特·弗林特，现在生成式人工智能初创公司已有500多家。
They have so far collectively raised more than $11bn—and that is excluding OpenAI (see chart). Mr Volpi talks of a “Cambrian explosion”.
它们迄今已经共筹集了110多亿美元——这还不包括OpenAI（见图表）。沃尔皮称之为“寒武纪大爆发”。
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So which generative-AI platforms will make the big bucks? For now, this is the subject of head-scratching in tech circles.
那么，哪些生成式AI平台将创造巨额利润呢？目前科技圈尚未有定论。
“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.
VC公司Andreessen Horowitz的马丁·卡萨多及其同事在最近的一篇博客文章中写道：“目前在生成式AI中，还不清楚是否会出现长期赢家通吃的局面。”
Many startups offer me-too ideas, often more feature than product.
许多初创公司提供了“我也有”的想法，但更多的是功能而不是产品。
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.
即便是资源密集型的基础模型，也可能最终成为低利润商品：虽然像OpenAI的GPT-3.5这样的专有模型处于领先地位，但开源替代品也并不遥远。
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Generative AI is also tiptoeing into a legal minefield. The models often get things wrong. And they can go off the rails.
生成式人工智能也悄悄走进了法律雷区。这些模型经常会出错，也可能失控。
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).
微软正在使用OpenAI技术为其Bing搜索引擎开发聊天机器人Sydney，该机器人曾经侮辱了一些用户，且至少给一位用户表达了爱意（但现在已被控制）。
AI platforms may not enjoy the legal protection from liability that shields social media.
与社交平台不同的是，人工智能平台可能没有法律责任豁免权。
Copyright holders of web-based content on which existing models are being trained without asking permission or paying compensation are up in arms.
在未经请求许可或支付补偿的情况下，网络内容的版权所有者对现有模型的训练非常不满。
Getty Images, a repository of photographs, and individual artists have filed lawsuits against AI art-generators such as Stable Diffusion.
摄影作品库Getty Images和个别艺术家已经对诸如Stable Diffusion等AI艺术生成平台提起了诉讼。
Stable Diffusion says, “We take these matters seriously. We are reviewing the documents and will respond accordingly.”
Stable Diffusion表示：“我们高度重视这些问题。我们正在审查文件，并将作出相应的回应。”
News outlets fear text-gobbling AIs, too.
新闻媒体也担心“洗稿”的AI技术。
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OpenAI is already downplaying the launch later this year of GPT-4, the highly anticipated update to its foundation model.
OpenAI已经淡化了备受期待的GPT-4基础模型的发布计划，原计划是今年年底发布。
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.
这不会减弱风投们对生成式AI的兴趣。对于风险规避意识较强的投资者而言，目前最安全的选择是投资于有大量数据处理能力的供应商（这样他们就可以培训和运行基础模型）。
The share price of Nvidia, which designs chips useful for AI applications, is up by 60% so far this year.
英伟达今年的股价迄今已经上涨了60％，该公司设计的芯片在AI应用中非常领先。
Cloud-computing services and data-centre landlords are rubbing their hands, too.
云计算服务和数据中心业主也暗自窃喜。
Whichever AI platform comes out top, you can’t go wrong selling picks and shovels in a gold rush.
无论哪个AI平台胜出，淘金热中选择卖铁锹卖铲子的生意永远不会错。
