吴恩达来信：此GPT非彼GPT

亲爱的朋友们,

生成式人工智能正在腾飞，随之而来的是对技术潜力的兴奋和炒作。我建议大家将其视为一种通用技术 (general-purpose technology, GPT, 可不要与另一种GPT混淆：generative pretrained transformer) 。就像深度学习和电力一样，生成式人工智能不仅适用于单一应用，还适用于横跨经济领域各方各面的众多应用。而且，就像10到15年前深度学逐步兴起一样，我们在未来几年还有重要的工作要做，以确定用例并构建特定的应用程序。

生成式人工智能 (Gen AI) 为人工智能工程师提供了巨大的潜能来构建让世界变得更美好的应用程序。它会被用于提供教育指导、帮助人们写作和艺术创造、自动化客户服务、教人们如何烹饪、制作电影特效，还是提供医疗建议？没错，以上所有功都能实现，甚至还能应用到更多领域！当我在社交媒体上询问人们使用ChatGPT做了什么时，回答的多样性和创造性显示了当前Gen AI用例的一个样本。

有了Gen AI，写作和图像等曾经有限供应的内容将变得丰富起来。上周，我在XPrize创始人Peter Diamandis组织的Abundance 360会议上谈到了这个主题。（Stability AI的Emad Mostaque和Scale AI的Alexandr Wang也在会议上发言。）这是一场精彩的会议，讨论的主题不仅包括人工智能，还包括食品、机器人和长寿（我们如何才能活得更久，保持健康，直到120岁甚至更长？）

我还谈到了AI Fund（我领导的风投工作室）——我们正在创建使用Gen AI和其他形式的AI的初创公司。AI Fund团队了解这项通用技术，但并不十分了解全球航运、房地产、安全、心理健康和许多其他人工智能可以应用的行业。因此，我们发现与了解这些领域用例的主题专家合作是至关重要的。如果你有一个应用人工智能的想法，但自己并不甚了解某个领域，那么与一个主题专家合作可以对你的成功产生巨大的影响。

此外，我不认为有任何一家公司能够同时处理如此广泛的应用程序，这些应用程序横跨了不同行业。这个世界需要许多初创公司在各个领域开发有用的应用程序。

此外，以强烈的责任感和道德感向前推进人工智能的使用是至关重要的。AI Fund以道德为由叫停了财务状况良好的项目。我希望你们也能这样做。

请不断学习!
吴恩达

附注:我喜欢Gen AI这个缩写。X世代、Y世代和Z世代指的是特定的群体。这个缩写表明，我们所有人都是人工智能一代的一部分!

Generative AI is taking off, and along with it excitement and hype about the technology’s potential. I encourage you to think of it as a general-purpose technology (GPT, not to be confused with the other GPT: generative pretrained transformer). Like deep learning — and electricity — generative AI is useful not just for a single application, but for a multitude of applications that span many corners of the economy. And, like the rise of deep learning that started 10 to 15 years ago, there’s important work to be done in coming years to identify use cases and build specific applications.

Generative AI (Gen AI) offers huge opportunities for AI engineers to build applications that make the world a better place. Will it be used to deliver educational coaching, help people with their writing and artwork, automate customer support, teach people how to cook, generate special effects in movies, or dispense medical advice? Yes, all of the above and many more applications besides! When I asked people on socialmedia what they use ChatGPT for, the diversity and creativity of responses showed just a sampling of current Gen AI use cases.

With Gen AI, things like writing and graphics that once were in limited supply will become abundant. I spoke on this theme last week at Abundance 360, a conference organized by XPrize founder Peter Diamandis. (Stability AI’s Emad Mostaque and Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang spoke in the same session.) It was a wonderful conference with sessions that covered not only AI but also topics like food, robotics, and longevity (how can we live longer and stay healthy until age 120 and even beyond?).

I also spoke about AI Fund, the venture studio I lead, where we’re building startups that use Gen AI along with other forms of AI. The AI Fund team understands this general-purpose technology — but not global shipping, real estate, security, mental health, and many other industries that AI can be applied to. Thus we’ve found it critical to partner with subject-matter experts who understand the use cases in these areas. If you have an idea for applying AI, working with a subject matter expert — if you aren’t already one yourself — can make a huge difference in your success.

Moreover, I don’t think any single company can simultaneously tackle such a wide range of applications that span diverse industries. The world needs many startups to build useful applications across all these sectors.

It should go without saying that, in applying Gen AI, it’s crucial to move forward with a keen sense of responsibility and ethics. AI Fund has killed financially sound projects on ethical grounds. I hope you will do the same.

Keep learning!

Andrew

P.S. I love the abbreviation Gen AI. Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z refer to specific groups. This abbreviation suggests that all of us who are alive today are part of Generation AI!