As a rule, hyping something that doesn't yet exist is a lot easier than hyping something that does. OpenAI's GPT-4 language model--much anticipated; yet to be released--has been the subject of unchecked, preposterous speculation in recent months. One post that has circulated widely online purports to evince its extraordinary power. An illustration shows a tiny dot representing GPT-3 and its "175 billion parameters." Next to it is a much, much larger circle representing GPT-4, with 100 trillion parameters.

When OpenAI, the San Francisco company developing artificial intelligence tools, announced the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, former Facebook and Oculus employee Daniel Habib moved quickly. Within four days of ChatGPT's launch, Habib used the chatbot to build QuickVid AI, which automates much of the creative process involved in generating ideas for YouTube videos. Creators input details about the topic of their video and what kind of category they'd like it to sit in, then QuickVid interrogates ChatGPT to create a script. Other generative AI tools then voice the script and create visuals. Tens of thousands of users used it daily--but Habib had been using unofficial access points to ChatGPT, which limited how much he could promote the service and meant he couldn't officially charge for it.

As the popularity of ChatGPT and other conversational AI technologies continue to grow, Google's Vint Cerf, known as the "father of the internet," warns executives to think twice before investing in them. During a recent conference in Mountain View, California, Vint Cerf cautioned attendees against hastily investing in conversational AI technology simply because it's a trending topic. Cerf explained that there's an ethical issue at hand, one that requires thoughtful consideration. While ChatGPT and other AI technologies have gained popularity, they don't always work as intended. The pressure to stay competitive in the conversational AI space has become a growing concern for tech giants such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft.

ChatGPT enables users to ask questions or tell a story, and the bot will respond with relevant, natural-sounding answers and topics. A friend gifted me a fancy designer bucket hat that she swore she didn't want anymore. Then we had a misunderstanding, and she ghosted my birthday party. And put a potato in her tailpipe. And slept with her ex.

Most security professionals will tell you that it's a lot easier to attack code systems than it is to defend them, and that this is especially true for large systems. The white hat's job is to secure each and every point of contact, while the black hat's goal is to find just one that's insecure. Whether black hat or white hat, it also helps a lot to know how the system works and exactly what it's doing. When you've got the source code, either because it's open-source, or because you're working inside the company that makes the software, you've got a huge advantage both in finding bugs and in fixing them. In the case of closed-source software, the white hats arguably have the offsetting advantage that they at least can see the source code, and peek inside the black box, while the attackers cannot.

It's basically a natural language processor that can interpret simple queries and give surprisingly comprehensive answers, and it's powered, of course, by AI. A recent estimate by the International Data Corp. (IDC) says that spending on AI technology grew 20% in 2021, reaching $383 billion, and it was expected to reach $450 billion in 2022. Companies are investing heavily in AI for several reasons. AI can boost labor productivity, improve operating efficiency, speed up innovation, and make more useful products for customers. Companies that can achieve these benefits will be in the best position to stay ahead of competitors, and therefore deliver returns to investors. This is why every company will likely be using AI in some form in the future.

I get more emails than I can handle. Every day, I watch as the unread messages in my inbox pile up despite my best efforts. It's not because I spend too much time responding to the emails that matter -- I spend too much time reading the ones that don't. There are newsletters, brand-outreach spam, press releases, recruiters, social-media updates -- emails that are almost never urgent but still make me feel obliged to check to make sure I'm not missing anything important. Even carefully deployed filters go only so far to keep the ever-growing volume of unwanted emails at bay.

Microsoft has big plans for artificial intelligence (AI), and it's becoming clear that it believes that ChatGPT – and natural language technology in general - will play a big part. The Seattle-based software giant brought office and home PCs into the mainstream in the eighties, thanks to its Windows and DOS operating systems. In the nineties, it played a big role in making the internet an important part of our lives. Now, it's hoping to stake its place in history as a company that brings AI – this century's hottest tech trend – to the masses. Since announcing a £10 billion investment in OpenAI, the creator of the ChatGPT chatbot, at the start of this year, it has already integrated the technology into its Bing search engine and spoken about plans for a range of further integrations.

SingularityNET A big shout-out and thank you to the fantastic SingularityNET community for all their support -- our Twitter channel has surpassed 100k followers! The interest in AI and AGI is surging as LLMs like ChatGPT and image AI generation like Stable Diffusion put the power of AI tools into everyone's hands -- and revolutionize how half the world works and researches. SingularityNET is proud to be at the forefront of this avalanche of AI development, building beneficial AI across industry verticals -- DeFi, decentralized compute, health and longevity, media, music and NFTs, blockchain, and of course, AGI development with the OpenCog project. Want to know how all of these projects fit together to revolutionize decentralized AI and build toward beneficial AGI? Read the recent blog, assembled by the entire SingularityNET ecosystem, "The Path to AGI: SingularityNET Ecosystem Cooperation." Token Generation Event and Community Launchpad Event -- see details at the top of this update, and read the SingularityNET Rejuve TGE Launch blog.

Is the hype surrounding large language models (LLM) justified? Or will it fade away as soon as the next hype train arrives? I've been through a few hypes cycles. Some turned out to be justified, others partially justified, and some not at all. In retrospect, the key developments pointing to success or lack thereof seem obvious.