What is Generative AI? It’s certainly one of the hottest topics in the world of tech, in today’s scenario. With fresh investments worth billions of dollars and zillions of interest across the globe, there has been a whole new wave triggered by it.
Now, we are being bombarded with new names dropping every passing day, from the realm of generative AI. But what exactly is ‘Generative AI’? Let’s go on a walk down the alleys of the tech town to get an essence.
What is Generative AI?
The world of tech is very happening these days. Now, one might argue that it has always been the case. But the pace in which the advancements in the techverse were taking shape, has fairly accelerated, of late.
‘What is Generative AI?’ is certainly one of the most frequently asked questions, right now. For the uninitiated, AI is a generic term, a sort of umbrella under which there’s so much — machine learning (ML), language models and of course, generative AI, to name a few. Of which, machine learning and language models happen to be neural networks.
Generative AI uses existing data to learn patterns and eventually applies them to create a wide variety of data. It could be an image, a text, an audio clip, a video clip and even a 3D model. [Image Credit: Freepik]
On the other hand, the Large Language Models (LLMs), which are at work today, fetching a lot of traction like, OpenAI’s ChatGPT or the relatively-newer entrants like, Salesforce’s Einstein GPT or Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot, are basically examples of generative AI.
Douglas Eck, a senior research director at Google, opines that generative AI is quite similar to the drum machine that arrived a couple of decades back. Eck argues, “… how hip-hop evolved in the Bronx with the use of the drum machine. That entire genre was advanced by this new backend tech development in music. The drum machine didn’t replace drummers, it just added another layer.”
In a nutshell, generative AI uses existing data to learn patterns and eventually applies them to create a wide variety of data. It could be an image, a text, an audio clip, a video clip and even a 3D model. Today, we can see many applications of generative AI around us, in the form of several AI chatbots.
From popular text generation tools like ChatGPT or GPT-4 to image generation tools like Midjourney, Dall-E and Stable Diffusion and even data augmentation tools like Synthesis AI, there’s been a hell lot of movement in the world of generative AI, recently.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, recently highlighted the importance of AI while sharing his views on Google’s way forward — “AI is the most profound technology we are working on today. Whether it’s helping doctors detect diseases earlier or enabling people to access information in their own language, AI helps people, businesses and communities unlock their potential. And it opens up new opportunities that could significantly improve billions of lives.”
Pichai also shed light on Google’s reorientation around AI, years back, as he said, “That’s why we re-oriented the company around AI six years ago — and why we see it as the most important way we can deliver on our mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
It must be noted that pretty recently, it was learned that Google AI is pulling up its socks to bridge the gap with its tech rivals who are stressing more importance on AI and leveling up their game.
We came to know that Salesforce has created a fund of $250 million to invest in generative AI, while Microsoft has announced a further investment of several billions in this booming sector. It has been reported that Meta, Amazon and several other top players are desperately trying to enter the AI mad rush, with high hopes of striking gold.
Meanwhile, IT giant from India, TCS is also working on generative AI on a war footing, as its Chief Operating Officer, N. Ganapathy Subramaniam, was quoted saying, “We’ll have a center of excellence (CoE) on generative AI, and have core competencies built around it. Work on this is already happening.”
On the other hand, IT services firm Tech Mahindra has also unveiled its brand-now Generative AI Studio and whereas, Infosys is “… looking to understand how generative AI can take advantage of our [their] large models, and create applications that are more efficient for the client.”
We will keep a close tab and give you exclusive updates on the progress of generative AI, in the coming days. Stay tuned for more top stories from the world of tech.
