The stunning capabilities of ChatGPT, the chatbot from startup OpenAI, has triggered a surge of new interest and investment in artificial intelligence. But late last week, OpenAI's CEO warned that the research strategy that birthed the bot is played out. It's unclear exactly where future advances will come from. OpenAI has delivered a series of impressive advances in AI that works with language in recent years by taking existing machine-learning algorithms and scaling them up to previously unimagined size. GPT-4, the latest of those projects, was likely trained using trillions of words of text and many thousands of powerful computer chips.

Experts calling for a pause on AI development will be glad to hear that OpenAI isn't currently training GPT-5. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke remotely at an MIT event and was quizzed about AI by computer scientist and podcaster Lex Fridman. Altman confirmed that OpenAI is not currently developing a fifth version of its Generative Pre-trained Transformer model and is instead focusing on enhancing the capabilities of GPT-4, the latest version. Altman was asked about the open letter that urged developers to pause training AI models larger than GPT-4 for six months. While he supported the idea of ensuring AI models are safe and aligned with human values, he believed that the letter lacked technical nuance regarding where to pause.

OpenAI's CEO and co-founder Sam Altman on Friday said that the company is not trying to train GPT-5 after AI language model GPT-4, which was released last month. In recent months, OpenAI has become a familiar name on the backs of latest technology like ChatGPT and GPT-4. ChatGPT is an AI program that has gained attention for its ability to generate quick and comprehensive answers to a wide range of queries. With over 100 million monthly active users, it is the fastest-growing consumer application in history. However, its rapid growth has raised concerns about its potential impact on safety, privacy, and employment.

Using characters and scenes he generated with Dall-E, writer / director Chad Nelson and creative agency Native Foreign have made the animated short Critters, which recently debuted on YouTube. The five-minute film, which was partly financed by OpenAI and is a cross between something from Pixar and a David Attenborough-style documentary, we meet a cast of cute, furry creatures who live in an imaginary jungle. While the assets were generated using AI, Chad wrote the script himself. He used actors to record the voices and the film was made together with a team of animators. His son also worked on the film, as an Unreal Engine programmer.

Google's chief executive has said concerns about artificial intelligence keep him awake at night and that the technology can be "very harmful" if deployed wrongly. Sundar Pichai also called for a global regulatory framework for AI similar to the treaties used to regulate nuclear arms use, as he warned that the competition to produce advances in the technology could lead to concerns about safety being pushed aside. In an interview on CBS's 60 minutes programme, Pichai said the negative side to AI gave him restless nights. "It can be very harmful if deployed wrongly and we don't have all the answers there yet – and the technology is moving fast. So does that keep me up at night? Google's parent, Alphabet, owns the UK-based AI company DeepMind and has launched an AI-powered chatbot, Bard, in response to ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by the US tech firm OpenAI, which has become a phenomenon since its release in November. Pichai said governments would need to figure out global frameworks for regulating AI as it developed. Last month thousands of artificial intelligence experts, researchers and backers – including the Twitter owner Elon Musk – signed a letter calling for a pause in the creation of "giant" AIs for at least six months, amid concerns that development of the technology could get out of control. Asked if nuclear arms-style frameworks could be needed, Pichai said: "We would need that." The AI technology behind ChatGPT and Bard, known as a Large Language Model, is trained on a vast trove of data taken from the internet and is able to produce plausible responses to prompts from users in a range of formats, from poems to academic essays and software coding. The image-generating equivalent, in systems such as Dall-E and Midjourney, has also triggered a mixture of astonishment and alarm by producing realistic images such as the Pope sporting a puffer jacket. Pichai added that AI could cause harm through its ability to produce disinformation "It will be possible with AI to create, you know, a video easily.

Videogame companies say the kind of technology behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT is set to radically speed up game development, reduce costs and help players interact with characters in new ways. Generative artificial-intelligence tools have gained prominence in recent months for their ability to create essays, images and even music in response to simple text prompts. Game studios are already using the technology for all sorts of tasks, from helping craft virtual scenes and scripts to designing weapons and characters.

A new joint report entitled A New National Purpose, which explores how the UK can harness innovative technologies to meet future challenges, has recently been published by Tony Blair and William Hague. The "cross-party" report argues that we are currently undergoing a new form of Industrial Revolution "as developments in artificial intelligence (AI), biotech, climate tech and other fields begin to change our economic and social systems". It calls for policymakers to mitigate the consequent threats whilst embracing opportunities. Several of its proposals touch upon the convergence of law and technology, and we will consider some of these aspects below. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Tony Blair's foiled aspirations to introduce digital ID during his premiership, much of the press attention has focused on the report's call for the government to "provide a secure, private, decentralised digital-ID system for the benefit of both citizens and businesses".

Artificial intelligence scientist Ben Goertzel said that generative AI models and tools like ChatGPT could replace many tasks performed by humans. Most people's jobs do not require'incredible' creativity or innovation, added Goertzel, who is also the co-developer of Sophia, the humanoid robot. He said that AI could be used for tasks like copy editing, writing sport score summaries, and weather reports, as reported by ZDNet. He further said with these tools automating major portions of people's jobs would lead to industry reshuffling and reassigning job duties. He, however, said that AI will not be able to replace jobs that rely on human interaction and the ones that require creativity. Generative AI replacing or automating tasks has been a hot topic of discussion.

The new video-generation systems could speed the work of moviemakers and other digital artists, while becoming a new and quick way to create hard-to-detect online misinformation, making it even harder to tell what's real on the internet. The systems are examples of what is known as generative A.I., which can instantly create text, images and sounds. Another example is ChatGPT, the online chatbot made by a San Francisco start-up, OpenAI, that stunned the tech industry with its abilities late last year. Google and Meta, Facebook's parent company, unveiled the first video-generation systems last year, but did not share them with the public because they were worried that the systems could eventually be used to spread disinformation with newfound speed and efficiency. But Runway's chief executive, Cristóbal Valenzuela, said he believed the technology was too important to keep in a research lab, despite its risks.

Are you scared yet, human? Artificial intelligence (AI) has proliferated with transformative effects in recent years, in sectors from autonomous vehicles to personalised shopping. But the latest deployment of AI to generate content such as text, images or audio has caused quite a stir. ChatGPT, a particularly superior language model, even passed the US medical speciality exam. That's not to say there haven't been some bloopers.