There’s a colossal shift going on in artificial intelligence — but it’s not the one some may think. While advanced language-generating systems and chatbots have dominated news headlines, private AI companies have quietly entrenched their power. Recent developments mean that a handful of individuals and corporations now control much of the resources and knowledge in the sector — and will ultimately shape its impact on our collective future.The phenomenon, which AI experts refer to as “industrial capture”, was quantified in a paper published by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the journal Science earlier this month, calling on policymakers to pay closer attention. Its data is increasingly crucial. Generative AI — the technology underlying the likes of ChatGPT — is being embedded into software used by billions of people, such as Microsoft Office, Google Docs and Gmail. And businesses from law firms to the media and educational institutions are being upended by its introduction.
人工智慧(AI)領域正在發生一個巨大的變化——這不是有些人以爲的那種變化。雖然先進的語言生成系統和聊天機器人一再成爲熱點新聞，但私人AI企業悄悄鞏固了它們的權力。近年來的發展動向意味著，少數的個人和企業如今掌控著該領域的很大一部分資源和知識——該領域會對我們人類共同的未來產生什麼影響，最終將取決於這些個人和企業。