The AI Forward event was held in San Francisco, which was dedicated to the problems of artificial intelligence. Invited as one of the speakers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates made a loud statement about the imminent end of the era of technological titans, mentioning Amazon and Google as examples. According to him, this “extinction” will happen, most likely due to the development of a personal virtual assistant by one of the IT companies. Progressive technology that will create a personal digital agent is likely to cause a radical change in the behavior patterns of Internet users.
It will make this assistant the best companion for a person, considering needs, interests, and habits.
Bill Gates noted that whoever develops a personal digital agent, will become the creator of a truly revolutionary service. Using its services, users will simply forget about the existence of search engines and e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. They won't need them anymore. He also suggested that whoever creates an AI assistant will take a leading position in the field of artificial intelligence. According to Gates, not only an already well-known large laboratory or corporation, but also a very young startup can become such a company - and with the same chances.
“Of course, I would be upset if Microsoft did not become it,” he shared. “Still, a couple of startups managed to impress me. One of them is Inflection".
For reference. Inflection.AI is a startup in the field of artificial intelligence. Founders: Mustafa Suleiman (co-founder of UK-based Google DeepMind) and Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn, an American social networking platform). On May 2, the company announced the launch of the Pi chatbot, a personal AI. The developers emphasized that this is a "personal companion that can give friendly advice." It will not replace a real friend or psychotherapist, but it will be able to listen and provide moral support. You can try out this assistant for free on the official website of the company by clicking on the "Meet Pi" button, or in the mobile application. It speaks only English so far, but will soon master other languages.
Finally, Bill Gates noted that before the moment when a fully functioning virtual assistant begins to be widely used, some time will pass. Meanwhile, this does not happen, IT companies will continue to equip their services with generative AI, for example, ChatGPT from OpenAI, which is popular today, and its analogues.