If there is a keyword in 2023, it is “Generative AI”. When Chat GPT was launched and then the media effect created a global AI wave, Vietnam also joined that wave. For the first time, we saw a familiar AI product that anyone could use. Many people see that the story of AI development is not far away but has begun to enter the nooks and crannies of life.
The First Wave of AI Is Coming to an End
The AI wave has had a strong impact on many areas of life, even on technology companies that do AI. My friend who works at a technology company in Ho Chi Minh City shared that in his company, he only needed to spend a few hours researching, then within 2 hours of data processing, he could create a chatbot to serve his own company. Therefore, Vietnamese AI companies will be affected by large models like Chat GPT. Even when asked how Chat GPT affects AI companies, almost all of them answered that they did not know whether their company should exist or not.
However, this is a huge opportunity to put AI to use in business. We see generative AI in its limitless application as it can generate information almost like humans do.
I think the story of the Generative AI model requires a huge investment but also has a big impact on this market and it is relatively shaped with about 5-7 "big guys" in the world. Generative AI opens up a huge opportunity for AI applications for society but the original tools will only be in the hands of a few big technology companies.
Thus, the first wave of AI has taken shape in the world. This was predicted from 2018 - 2019, because this is the game of technology companies with a lot of money and good human resources.
In the future, AI will impact every industry because AI processes information instead of the human brain. There are even cases where AI processes faster and has better logic and semantics than humans. However, the use of AI depends not only on technology, data, but also on law, ethics, etc. Therefore, this is not just a story of AI but the role that AI depends on. For example, the application of Generative AI will impact the journalism industry when it needs to generate a large amount of content with average quality.
Preparing for the Second Wave of AI
Currently, some Vietnamese AI businesses focus on their strength, which is the Vietnamese language. But developing native tools like Chat GPT is a global story. Competition in the AI field will be fierce and businesses will find it difficult to survive without differentiated products. If we imitate the basic AI technologies for the world to use like the "big guys" OpenAI do, we will not be able to compete. But if we follow the path of developing AI applications, it is a different story.
Without a large language model, it is impossible to have a large platform like Chat GPT, but even if we have a large language model, getting a model like Chat GPT is still a difficult story.
We can see that countries like Japan or Korea do not build large AI platforms and models, but they focus on applications. This means that all Vietnamese enterprises focusing on general AI will face many risks. Therefore, we should focus on applications based on the platforms of the technology "giants".
The question here is whether to create a platform to compete or apply large AI platforms? I think we should only do it when we have to and have no other choice, such as applying it to national security or specific fields. Otherwise, we should focus on the application issue, because it is very difficult to create products that compete with or surpass Chat GPT.
Currently, to make a large language model in the world, there are about 8 companies, of which 5 are American companies and 3 are Chinese companies. Of course, China has to do it because they are already a very large market.
However, we still have specialized AI applications that can explode next year, which is being done by technology giants like Google. We see that Google will have models that allow business applications with specific data. This will be an opportunity for countries like Vietnam.
The next wave of AI after Generative AI will be AI applications in enterprises. At that time, each enterprise will have AI applications that operate as a component and have functions like employees in the enterprise, can participate in all stages of the enterprise, from accounting, production management to human resources...
A friend who is a medical equipment purchasing staff at a hospital in Hanoi said that he uses Chat GPT to look up equipment and compare equipment types for reference instead of going to websites to get information.
This example shows that most broad AI such as Chat GPT is only applied individually and has not yet become a system in businesses to change business models and create competitive advantages. That is the market and opportunity that Vietnamese AI businesses are aiming for.
Vietnam can proactively prepare for the second wave of AI with its own capacity, to take appropriate steps. If we prepare resources and good policies, we can move faster in the second wave of AI.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoai - Director of Vietnam Artificial Intelligence Research Institute
Source
Comment (0)