Will there be an 'App Store' moment for AI?
Many people have talked about generative AI as the next platform enabling a new wave of apps, akin to the release of the App Store. But companies like Microsoft and Google have an edge over outside app developers given their existing scale plus their access to cutting-edge models, better datasets, cost savings from better infrastructure, etc. If a generative AI app gets enough traction, they can easily copy it. And unlike Apple, model providers do not have an incentive to foster a vibrant community of third-party apps. Do you think an 'App Store'-like wave of innovation is possible with generative AI? Or will innovation at the app layer be confined to the Microsoft/Google/OpenAI walled gardens?
1 comments
The same could have been said about AI / LLMs in general- and get openAI rose to the top.
I think the game changer with openAI wasn’t necessarily the model itself, but their decision to allow the public to use it- and so cheaply to boot.
It was the fact that openAI did not have a lot to lose by making it so easily available, I think, that made them what they are today in this field we see today. The larger companies, by contrast, largely saw this field as a means to make their existing products more lucrative rather than as a product in and of itself. I think FAANG companies certainly have an advantage overall, but but smaller players, however disadvantaged they may be overall, nevertheless have some advantages in the industry and perhaps the company that rises to the top in the space, won’t be the company who can through millions and millions of dollars at it, but rather, the companies who are small, competent, and talented companies- who can’t afford to not think outside the box.
I think the game changer with openAI wasn’t necessarily the model itself, but their decision to allow the public to use it- and so cheaply to boot.
It was the fact that openAI did not have a lot to lose by making it so easily available, I think, that made them what they are today in this field we see today. The larger companies, by contrast, largely saw this field as a means to make their existing products more lucrative rather than as a product in and of itself. I think FAANG companies certainly have an advantage overall, but but smaller players, however disadvantaged they may be overall, nevertheless have some advantages in the industry and perhaps the company that rises to the top in the space, won’t be the company who can through millions and millions of dollars at it, but rather, the companies who are small, competent, and talented companies- who can’t afford to not think outside the box.