Artificial intelligence has gone from being a science fiction novelty to something we are sure is the future. Very, very quickly.

One easy way to measure the change is through the headlines – such as those reporting Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI, the company behind the dazzling text generator ChatGPT, followed by other AI startups looking for big money. Or those for school districts frantically trying to keep up with students using ChatGPT to write coursework. Or those for digital publishers like CNET and BuzzFeed, who admit or brag that they use artificial intelligence to create some of their content – and investors reward them for it, Vox wrote on the subject.

“Until recently, these were science experiments that no one cared about. In a short period of time, they became projects with economic implications.”

Says Matthew Dreihurst, co-founder of artificial intelligence startup Spawning.ai.

There’s another leading indicator: the lawsuits filed against OpenAI and similar companies that claim artificial intelligence engines illegally use other people’s labor to create their platforms and products. This means they are directly targeting the current boom in generative AI – software such as ChatGPT that uses existing text, images or code to create new work.

And in January, we saw a similar class action filed (by the same lawyers) against Stability AI, developer of the AI art generator Stable Diffusion, alleging copyright infringement.

Meanwhile, Getty Images, the UK-based photo and art library, said it would also sue Stable Diffusion for using its images without a license.

And the tech giants leading the way in artificial intelligence – besides Microsoft, Google and Facebook have made huge investments in the industry, though they have yet to present much of it to the public – are far more powerful and established than their dotcom boom counterparts.

Data-driven artificial intelligence diet
The technology behind AI is a complex black box, and many of the claims and predictions about its power may turn out to be exaggerated. Yes, some AI software seems to be able to pass some of the tests for MBA and medical licenses, but it still won’t replace your CFO or doctor.

And sometimes the data question changes depending on who you ask. Elon Musk was an early investor in OpenAI – but after he became the owner of Twitter, he said he didn’t want to let OpenAI search Twitter’s database.

Not surprising, as I just learned that OpenAI had access to Twitter database for training. I put that on pause for now.

Need to understand more about governance structure & revenue plans going forward.

OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 4, 2022

What does the past tell us about the future of artificial intelligence?
Here’s where we have to remember that the next big thing isn’t always like this: remember the days when people were trying to figure out what Web3 and FTX actually meant, paying millions of dollars for Super Bowl ads? That was a year ago.

In conclusion, we have to watch the future development of AI and all the platforms that use it, and the scandals between companies that are coming are inevitable given the investments that are being made in the sector.