There’s a colossal shift going on in artificial intelligence — but it’s not the one some may think. While advanced language-generating systems and chatbots have dominated news headlines, private AI companies have quietly entrenched their power. Recent developments mean that a handful of individuals and corporations now control much of the resources and knowledge in the sector — and will ultimately shape its impact on our collective future.The phenomenon, which AI experts refer to as “industrial capture”, was quantified in a paper published by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the journal Science earlier this month, calling on policymakers to pay closer attention. Its data is increasingly crucial. Generative AI — the technology underlying the likes of ChatGPT — is being embedded into software used by billions of people, such as Microsoft Office, Google Docs and Gmail. And businesses from law firms to the media and educational institutions are being upended by its introduction.
人工智能(AI)领域正在发生一个巨大的变化——这不是有些人以为的那种变化。虽然先进的语言生成系统和聊天机器人一再成为热点新闻，但私人AI企业悄悄巩固了它们的权力。近年来的发展动向意味着，少数的个人和企业如今掌控着该领域的很大一部分资源和知识——该领域会对我们人类共同的未来产生什么影响，最终将取决于这些个人和企业。