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Introducing The Information’s Generative AI Database

By Kalley Huang · June 1, 2023 9:54 AM PDT

OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched six months ago, igniting a boom in generative artificial intelligence. Since then, all manner of startups have emerged, building technology to compete with ChatGPT and developing services that use generative AI. Despite an otherwise cool funding environment, investors are jockeying to join the action. The most... OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched six months ago, igniting a boom in generative artificial...

Sam Altman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why AI Scientists Are Freaking Us Out

By Martin Peers · May 30, 2023 5:00 PM PDT · 2 comments

Well that’s one way to get attention. According to a statement issued today by a bunch of leading names in AI, “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority.” Right. It’s hard to imagine anyone out there disagrees—who but the most extreme misanthrope wants to extinguish the human race? The question, then, is why the very... Well that’s one way to get attention. According to a statement issued today by a bunch of leading...

Stills from Pizza Later's "Pepperoni Hug Spot" commercial, Kris Kashtanova's Burning Man video and Ammaar Reshi's World War II movie trailer—all created entirely with AI.

How AI Built This

Staring at the Black Hole Sun: Generative AI Artists Deconstruct Their Viral Videos

By Margaux MacColl · May 5, 2023 11:43 AM PDT · 4 comments

Will AI video kill the radio star? Judging from the surge of artificial intelligence–generated beer commercials and “Star Wars”–themed Wes Anderson trailers popping up on social feeds this week, it just might. The AI video onslaught began officially in late March, when Runway, an AI startup newly valued at $1.5 billion,... Will AI video kill the radio star? Judging from the surge of artificial...

Art by Clark Miller

Tech’s Newest Side Hustle: Prompt Engineers Surf the AI Wave

By Chris Stokel-Walker · April 29, 2023 6:00 AM PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller

Tech’s Newest Side Hustle: Prompt Engineers Surf the AI Wave

By Chris Stokel-Walker · April 29, 2023 6:00 AM PDT · 1 comment

Bohdan Skitenko has been working in the design industry, producing 3D art and animation, for around five years. But it was when version four of generative AI image creator Midjourney was released in November 2022 that he began thinking about pivoting his career toward a more artificial intelligence–integrated one. “I realized that... Bohdan Skitenko has been working in the design industry, producing 3D art and animation, for...

Art by Clark Miller.

An AI Researcher Tries to Build Good AI While Burning Down the Bad

By Margaux MacColl · March 25, 2023 7:05 AM PDT · 2 comments

In the hours after Margaret Mitchell was fired by Google over email in February 2021, she ran to the bathroom and threw up. “I was just so terrified that I was never going to get a job in tech again, that my name had been scarlet lettered,” she told me over an hourlong Zoom this week, calling from her home outside Seattle. That was... In the hours after Margaret Mitchell was fired by Google over email in February 2021, she ran to...

Mixed AI art by Clark Miller

War of the Art Worlds: Generative AI Sparks a New Culture Clash Among Creatives

By Jessica Lucas · Oct. 28, 2022 1:00 PM PDT · 3 comments

“When I was a small kid,” said Curio, a nonbinary artist and web developer from Pennsylvania, “I literally had the most expansive, vivid daydreams of a device that I could put on my head, and it would just pull the images out and put them on paper.” Curio,who is in their 20s and asked to remain anonymous, has a form of autoimmune arthritis that... “When I was a small kid,” said Curio, a nonbinary artist and web developer from Pennsylvania, “I...

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Art by Clark Miller.

Don’t Build the Wrong Kind of AI Business

By Ben Parr · March 28, 2023 9:00 AM PDT · 13 comments

At a catch-up coffee a few weeks ago, a founder friend asked me, “What AI thing should we build?” It was the third time that week a founder had asked me the same question. Generative artificial intelligence is 99% of the buzz in Silicon Valley right now. In just the last few weeks, Open AI released GPT-4, its most advanced language... At a catch-up coffee a few weeks ago, a founder friend asked me, “What AI thing should we...

Art by Clark Miller.

AI Will Destroy Jobs. So What Are We Going to Do About It?

By Ben Parr · May 16, 2023 9:00 AM PDT · 34 comments

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s appearance on Capitol Hill this morning is a powerful signal of just how quickly generative artificial intelligence has changed our lives. In the span of just a few months, large language model-based tools have gone from tech novelty to ubiquitous convenience that can do many of the things humans can do, from ... OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s appearance on Capitol Hill this morning is a powerful signal of...

Midjourney art by Clark Miller

Did a Bot Write This?: New Tools Are Already Taking Aim at AI-Generated Work

By Chris Stokel-Walker · Jan. 13, 2023 12:00 PM PST · 6 comments

If an artificial intelligence program were to engineer a human with the potential to destroy it—or at least slow its march to global domination—it might create Edward Tian. Tian, a 22-year-old Princeton University student, is a computer science major who specializes in natural-language processing. He’s a former researcher for... If an artificial intelligence program were to engineer a human with the potential to destroy...

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