TECHNOLOGY
Something Artificial
AT HITEC , GENERATIVE AI WAS EVERYWHERE AND IT ’ S COMING TO A TECH PRODUCT NEAR YOU .
By DAVID EISEN
New concepts require definition . Budding generative AI certainly does because it ’ s not the same as the now ripened AI . Unlike traditional AI , generative AI basically creates something new , whereas its predeccessor was confined to certain rules . Take Apple ’ s omnipresent voice assistant Siri : a user gives it an input and a response is spit back out . It ’ s the same with Amazon ’ s Alexa or even the search tool on Netflix : they are given prompts and kick out a recommendation .
Think of generative AI as the next evolution of AI , where the confines of what we knew are breaking down . In other words , generative AI basically takes an idea and runs with it . It creates something brand new from an initial prompt . Yes , ChatGPT ( the GPT stands for generative pretrained transformer ) is a prime example of that and now part of the zeitgeist . I asked it to write an ode about my dog , Olive , a Jack Russell , and in no time flat it spat out seven stanzas of rhyme that would make Longfellow blush .
Meanwhile , companies like PolyAI are making voice assist in customer service lifelike . Their conversations are so human that the real human on the other end has no clue they are speaking to an AI .
It ’ s no wonder that NBC said it will use AI software to recreate famed sportscaster
18 hotelsmag . com July / August 2024