Funston Brief (Issue No. 22)
This month, our featured commentary discusses the newly launched Data and Trust Alliance. We also dive into the latest discussions around Q, Amazon’s chatbot, and the calm after the storm at OpenAI.
As AI copyright issues take flight, mainstream companies have concerns about the lineage of the data that powers AI applications. To identify AI data they can trust, several large companies have formed an industry group to address this challenge. The Data and Trust Alliance, a consortium of large companies, has developed a standard for describing the origin, history, and legal rights of data.
Over the last 25 years, businesses have diligently transitioned into the digital realm. They are now leveraging data, algorithms, and AI to revolutionize decision-making processes, evolving into what can be aptly termed data enterprises. This paradigm shift has far-reaching implications, touching various sectors, including retail, education, entertainment, health and wellness, transportation, and energy. The key to unlocking economic and societal value for a broad spectrum of stakeholders, ranging from customers, employees, and citizens to shareholders, partners, suppliers, and beyond, lies in these intelligent systems' responsible design and management.
As a confirmation of the importance of this consortium, researchers recently found that ChatGPT’s training data can be leaked through a “divergence attack,” i.e., asking the chatbot to repeat a word constantly. The researchers employed a methodology involving extensive token generation from different models, followed by comparing these tokens with the respective training datasets to identify instances of direct memorization.
ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS.
Amazon introduced Q, an A.I. chatbot for enterprises: Amazon has been racing to shake off the perception that it is lagging in taking advantage of artificial intelligence. The company recently introduced its AI chatbot for companies, Q, built to be more secure and private than other chatbots.
Key Insight: The chatbot, developed by Amazon’s cloud computing division, is focused on workplaces and not intended for consumers. Amazon Q aims to help employees with daily tasks, such as summarizing strategy documents, filling out internal support tickets, and answering questions about company policy. It will compete with corporate chatbots, including Copilot, Google’s Duet AI, and ChatGPT Enterprise. Link
Large language models explained: Here’s a gentle primer, with a minimum of math and jargon, to understand how large language models work.
Key Insight: The primer starts by explaining word vectors, the surprising way language models represent and reason about language. Then it dives deep into the transformer, the basic building block for systems like ChatGPT. Finally, it explains how these models are trained and explores why good performance requires such phenomenally large quantities of data. Link
EAR TO THE GROUND.
Podcast Episode: Bloomberg Originals - Inside the Battle for OpenAI’s Soul
Guests: Sam Altman
Takeaway:
Sam Altman’s firing by OpenAI’s board laid bare the swirling conflict at the heart of the lucrative artificial intelligence sector. On one side is a group deeply concerned about AI’s destructive potential, while on the other is a more market-oriented faction that wants to accelerate innovation. Then there's Microsoft, the tech giant that’s invested billions of dollars in OpenAI. In the mini-documentary Inside the Battle for OpenAI’s Soul, Bloomberg Originals exposes the hidden tensions that led to Altman’s ouster - and his triumphant return.
“The governance structure of OpenAI is weird. Most startups are governed by a board that is accountable to their shareholders. OpenAI is a startup, but it sits inside this nonprofit, and that nonprofit board of directors is not accountable to the shareholders; it’s accountable to humanity.”
- Max Chafkin, Columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek
36%
Although the revenue sharing amount was supposed to remain confidential, a Google witness accidentally disclosed the number during the company’s antitrust trial in DC. According to experts, Apple gets 36% of Google’s revenue on Safari in a search deal. Link
PROFILE.
Peter Thiel recently sat down with The Atlantic for a series of interviews. Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal, has been a vocal supporter and financial advocate for Donald Trump. However, Thiel said he is not giving money to the former president - or any other candidate - in the 2024 presidential campaign. Why does he want to cut off politicians? He believes the days when great men could achieve great things in government are gone. Have a read!
“Voting for Trump was like a not very articulate scream for help. [...] There are a lot of things I got wrong. [...] They couldn’t get the most basic pieces of the government to work. So that was - I think that part was maybe worse than even my low expectations.” - Peter Thiel, Co-founder of PayPal and Palantir
ON MY RADAR.
The Silicon Valley elite wants to build an $800 million city from scratch. Link