As we count down toward the final days of 2023, there are two ways to sum up the year in AI: generative AI is good for humanity, and generative AI is bad for humanity.
As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between (I won’t say middle because the opportunities and risks are still unfolding.) But I was happy to hear a hopeful take from actor Jack Black. Reflecting on his turn in The Super Mario Bros. Movie earlier this year and noting that School of Rock just turned 20 (wow, right?), Black said he doesn’t think we’re headed for a Terminator world in the future.Â
“It’s so new that it’s hard to really say what the future holds, but I don’t have all doom and gloom. I don’t feel like, ‘Oh no, it’s going to be like Terminator where it comes and destroys all the human jobs.’ I’m not convinced about that because I can admit, I don’t know, and I’m hoping that it’s going to be a great new world and that it’s going to be a tool that all of us can use to make ourselves better and make the world better,” Black said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“How about it saves the world? How about that possibility? I [have] huge hope, because we could use some saving. Maybe it’ll cure cancer. Maybe it’ll perfect space travel. Maybe it’ll do some things that we can’t even imagine that are great.”
Maybe, Jack Black. Maybe.
He’s not the only one with an optimistic outlook. In 2023, investors poured nearly $10 billion into genAI startups, more than double the $4.4 billion invested the year before, according to GlobalData. Why is that notable? Because overall venture capital money put in tech startups fell year over, to $224 billion in 2023 from $418 billion in 2022.
“One reason to bet big on genAI is the general-purpose nature of the technology, which startups are using to solve diverse challenges,” said Adarsh Jain, director of the Financial Markets team at GlobalData. He cited examples of startups using AI to help tackle language translation, design and engineer proteins, work on…
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