While technical AI and LLMs are not something I’m well versed in. So as I sit on the sidelines and see the current proliferation of AI startups I’m starting to wonder where the moats are outside of access to raw computing power. Open AI seemed to have a massive lead in this space but that lead seems to be shrinking every day.
Obtaining high quality training data is the biggest moat right now.
Where are they going to get that data? Everything on the open web after 2023 is polluted with lowquality AI slop that poisons the data sets. My prediction: Aggressive dragnet surveillance of users. As in, Google recording your phone calls on Android, Windows sending screen recordings from Recall to OpenAI, Meta training off Whatsapp messages... It sounds dystopian, but the Line Must Go Up.
I'm really curious if Microsoft will ever give in to the urge to train on private business data - since transitioning office to o365, they hold the world's and even governments word documents and emails. I'm pretty sure they've promised never to touch it but they can certainly read it so... Information wants to be free.