7 predictions I have after reading AI Superpowers

Plus, web search just got an upgrade in ChatGPT

Quick news hit from this week before we get to the main post:
Open AI announced a relatively big update this week, enabling web search directly, in what could be a move to compete directly with Google and Perplexity. The feature includes partnerships with news and data providers for up-to-date information and new visual designs for weather, stocks, sports, news, and maps. It’s a great upgrade, and one that has me wondering if ChatGPT eventually becomes a super app:

Now, on to this week’s programming: Some major lessons, predictions, and takes I got from Kai-Fu Lee’s NY Times bestselling book, AI Super-Powers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New Work Order.

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This is the age of data, and if you don’t have your own data, you’re losing

Kai-Fu Lee speaks of the major transitions we’re experience in AI, and it struck me that we’re already experiencing this transition:

This brings us to the second major transition, from the age of expertise to the age of data. Today, successful AI algorithms need three things: big data, computing power, and the work of strong - but not necessarily elite - AI algorithm engineers. Bringing the power of deep learning to bear on new problems requires all three, but in this age of implementation, data is the core. That’s because once computing power and engineering talent reach a certain threshold, the quantity of data becomes decisive in determining the overall power and accuracy of an algorithm.

Why it matters:

• Whether you work in house, at an association, or at a public/corporate affairs agency, having access to the same large language models as everyone else won’t be a differentiator.

• We’re at an interesting moment where most of us are in the same 100 meter dash, and we’re all neck-and-neck trying to figure out how to make the best use of off-the-shelve tools, but we’re about to get completely overlapped by those who have built their own models, or have learned how to leverage the data they sit on.