The AI gold rush in the tech industry continues, representing one of the few growth areas in an industry that is facing cutbacks elsewhere.
Nearly a third of this year’s batch of startups funded by Y Combinator, one of the most prominent Silicon Valley startup accelerators, are AI startups, according to reports.
Via Yahoo:
Looking at Y Combinator’s first 2023 batch as it’s released so far (and expected to grow), 51 of the growing 183 are AI startups, 32 of which classify themselves as generative AI.
This creates an obvious incentive for companies to implement or even focus on AI in their business model because it’s what VCs believe is the future. There are plenty of other great, and potentially even more practical and profitable ideas, but if you can’t get the funding you need, you might be dead in the water.
So the next time you wonder where these trends come from and why they continue to grow in prominence, it’s likely because of where VCs are putting their money.
While some are rushing headlong towards the AI revolution, others are recommending a firm stamp on the brakes.
In an open letter published this week, a total of 1,000 AI experts and tech industry leaders, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk called for a pause on the development of AI models more powerful than Open AI’s GPT-4, warning of major safety risks associated with advanced AIs.
Even in the unlikely event that the open letter is successful in its goal, it does not necessarily mean the pace of investment in AI startups will slow. Most of the startups are not involved in creating more powerful AI models than those currently on the market, with many using OpenAI’s GPT-4 or GPT-3.5 to power their products.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.