Shares in small artificial intelligence groups have soared this year on the back of the hype surrounding ChatGPT and other generative AI models, leading analysts to warn of a “speculative” bubble in the making.
Last year marked a breakout year for AI that can produce fluent textual responses to questions, draft poems and stories and generate images on demand. Microsoft hopes to employ the technology used in OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot to overturn Google’s dominance of the internet search market. Alphabet hopes its own conversational AI service, Bard, will stop users from jumping ship.
Big Tech’s embrace of generative AI has sparked frenzied interest among investors. BuzzFeed’s stock rose 150 per cent in a day in late January after chief executive Jonah Peretti said “AI inspired content” would begin appearing on the company’s website later this year.