Billions of dollars being devoted to artificial intelligence resemble cryptocurrency hype that is hampering science and research, warns Google’s head of artificial intelligence.
Investing in artificial intelligence “brings a whole lot of hype and maybe a little bit of delight” – Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of DeepMind, who was acquired by Google in 2014, he told the Financial Times.. He compared the phenomenon to cryptocurrencies and “other hyped areas” and said similar hype “has now spilled over into artificial intelligence, which I think is a bit unfortunate.”
Hassabis also said that the hype surrounding artificial intelligence is “overshadowing the science and research, which is phenomenal.” In some ways, AI is underhyped, but in some ways it is too hyped. We’re talking about all sorts of things that just aren’t true.” Google DeepMind did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Startups see a fierce race to develop bigger and better AI models millions in investments (AND even billions) these are raising their valuations to billionsleading some analysts to warn of an AI bubble.
After chipmaker Nvidia, which is behind the most sought-after equipment in the world powering the artificial intelligence industry’s leading models and products, became the first semiconductor company to reach a $2 trillion valuation in February, some analysts were concerned about how far the company could go.
“Nvidia’s next blockbuster quarter raises the question of how long its explosive earnings growth will continue,” said Jacob Bourne, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence. Nvidia exceeded earnings expectations. “For the foreseeable future, Nvidia’s market power is hard-wearing, although not invincible.”
When Nvidia reached a valuation of $2 trillion, Torsten Sløk, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, warned that the current buzz around artificial intelligence has surpassed that of the dot-com bubble of the 1990s.
Despite the warning, Hassabis said he believes the industry is “only scratching the surface” of what’s possible with the technology. In addition to the AlphaFold model, which predicts the structure of proteinsHassabis said Google DeepMind also uses artificial intelligence to advance drug discovery research, weather forecasting models and nuclear fusion technology.
“We may be at the beginning of a modern golden age of scientific discovery, a modern renaissance,” he told the Financial Times.
