
Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI)is slowing down at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit. While AI, especially generative models like ChatGPT, caught everyone’s attention when it first appeared two years ago, the pace of development is now expected to be slower, at least for the next year or two.
Pichai explained that the reason for this slowdown is that many of the easiest advances in AI have already been made. He described it as if the “low-hanging fruit” has already been picked.
In other words, the initial breakthroughs in AI have already happened, and now, the technology will need deeper and more complex innovations to make the next big leap. So, while AI models like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s Llama will continue to improve, these improvements will likely be smaller and more gradual.
One of the areas where AI will improve is in “reasoning” and completing tasks more reliably. This means that AI will get better at understanding and carrying out complex instructions, which could eventually make AI more useful for businesses and help them make money from it.
However, even with these improvements, AI won’t have the kind of big, life-changing impact many people might expect in the short term.
Pichai isn’t the only tech leader who thinks AI development will slow down. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, shared a similar opinion, saying that technological progress often happens in bursts, and after a period of slower growth, new breakthroughs will come. On the other hand, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman disagrees, claiming there are no limits to AI’s growth.
Despite the slowdown, Pichai believes that AI’s continued development will still make it more useful for more people. He also mentioned that AI could help create new jobs, including well-paying roles like AI trainers and prompt engineers, which don’t necessarily require a college degree.
Looking ahead, Pichai thinks that in about 10 years, computer programming will be accessible to millions of people who don’t have a traditional technical background.
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