OpenAI Takes on the Open-Source AI World: Is Google in Trouble?

OpenAI, the organization responsible for the creation of ChatGPT, is reportedly planning to release its own open-source AI model. This comes as a response to the increasing competition in the open-source AI landscape.

OpenAI is well-known for its advanced AI chatbot, ChatGPT. According to a report published on May 16, OpenAI's decision to develop an open-source AI model is seemingly driven by the pressure from other competing open-source AI models, such as those leaked from Meta earlier this year.

The exact release date for the open-source model hasn't been announced yet. However, it's been suggested that this new offering from OpenAI might not pose a direct competition to its flagship product, ChatGPT. This is because the organization's value proposition lies in providing access to its more advanced AI models for a fee.

Open-source AI models, such as Meta's LLaMa, which was leaked on the imageboard site 4chan, and those from Stability AI and Databricks, have posed significant competition to OpenAI. Stability AI and Databricks have recently open-sourced their large language models.

An open-source model allows everyone to access the complete code, providing the freedom to modify the model for any purpose. Some organizations choose to open-source their software, hoping to benefit from contributions by external developers.

There's been a considerable inflow of funds to those working on open-source models. For instance, AI firm Together raised $20 million in a seed round backed by prominent figures in the crypto industry, with the stated mission of providing open-source generative AI models.

An internal document leaked from Google earlier in May suggested that open-source AI models pose a considerable threat to the company's own AI projects. The document, authored by Google's senior software engineer Luke Sernau, claimed that open-source AI models have become significantly more advanced. Sernau pointed out that these models are faster, more customizable, more private, and more capable on a pound-for-pound basis.

Despite attempts to contact OpenAI for a comment on the matter, there has been no immediate response. The article was updated on May 16 to include more information from the leaked Google document and details about competing open-source AI models.