Here’s Why Generative AI is Getting Overhyped
From digital art to blog posts and everything in between, generative AI seems to be everywhere. But even when generative AI simply collects data from different original sources and presents it in another form, it is being hailed as the next best thing since sliced bread.
When you understand the background processes of generative AI and how it repackages a mix of ideas without (in a portion of cases) attribution to human creators, it is easy to wonder if the technology might be overhyped. After the rise and fall of NFTs in the past year alone, this doesn’t seem like an impossible idea to begin with. Remember that NFTs were all the rage with monkey JPEGs and other similar manifestations of NFTs that largely did not make sense. And of course, the fact that they went to the moon and then experienced a significant downturn.
To help you consider the generative AI overhype, here are a few reasons why the technology might be getting blown out of proportion in its current state.
Companies are Being Founded Without a Product
Unlike cryptocurrencies that offer a complicated way to make transactions and store value, AI enables practical use cases such as automating processes and refining productivity. This differentiation is crucial, one can see how this technology improves But due to becoming a buzzword, AI is being overhyped in the same way that crypto had been not too long ago.
One of the latest examples of this phenomenon is Mistral AI, a French AI startup that raised a record $113 million within a month of its launch. What makes Mistral AI’s fundraising such a curious case is that the company achieved this feat without any product at hand. It is yet to be seen what Mistral AI actually goes on to do with its money – but for now, it is highlighting the craze that surrounds anything with the label of AI slapped on it.
AI Companies Are in a Bull Market
Similar to the dot com bubble in the 1990s where obscure internet companies kept seeing a rise in value before falling hard on their face, AI businesses are seeing a similar pattern towards the demand of their shares. Besides highlighting the generative AI overhype, this also indicates that the market may follow the same fate as the dot com bubble and cause people to lose money.
While many of these AI companies are legit and have useful products to offer, others are simply riding the coattails of the technology’s popularity. In addition to institutional investors who want to get the most out of their money, this is also causing small-time investors to buy into the hype and create an endless loop of popularity to investment and vice versa.
Investors Are Going for Everything Associated With AI
If the aspects mentioned above highlight anything at all, it is that investors are considering AI as the ultimate money-making machine. While AI’s financial perks are true to some extent due to the benefits of automation and optimization, the technology is not everything that investors’ present it to be. This calls for the generative AI overhype to be reined-in.
But as investors reach that road in their own time, it is adding to the overexaggerated status of AI and what it will be able to achieve for humanity. The many warnings from researchers about the possible destruction of humanity through AI makes it critical for everyone to take a step back and rethink what consequences their actions could have on the fate of the world.