Generative AI in Practice

19GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE: PREDICTING THE TRAJECTORY OF GENERATIVE AI

Imagine a future where AI isn't just smart but also your creative sidekick. Generative AI could turn brainstorming sessions into a wild ride of endless ideas, design personalized virtual experiences, and maybe even help you write that novel you've been dreaming about. It's like having a super-smart, ultra-creative companion at your fingertips, making the future look pretty darn exciting!

That's what ChatGPT had to say when I asked it about the future of GenAI. As for me, I have a few predictions of my own on how GenAI will evolve. Let's get into them.

Are We Moving Closer to General AI?

All of the GenAI capabilities that we've talked about so far in this book fall under the umbrella of narrow or applied AI – meaning they simulate human thought in order to carry out a specific task or function (like drafting an email, or generating an image). We're not yet at the point of general or generalized AI – intelligent machines that can turn their attention to pretty much any task, just like the human brain can. In other words, while today's AIs do a good job of simulating human thought, creativity, simple decision-making, and conversation, they're not able to fully simulate everything the human brain does. But are we nearing that point?

Certainly, creativity (or the simulation of creativity) feels like a major milestone on that journey. Something that was previously considered uniquely human can now be done by machines ...