In this episode of FYI, Brett Winton, ARK’s Chief Futurist and Frank Downing, ARK’s Director of Research, Next Generation Internet, welcome Manu Sharma, founder of Labelbox. The conversation examines the rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) since the introduction of ChatGPT, highlighting how Labelbox has adapted from basic data labeling to sophisticated AI alignment using Ph.D.-level experts. They explore the profound changes in the AI landscape, the significance of reinforcement learning from human feedback, and the future of AI in increasing productivity and transforming industries. Listen in as they uncover the trends driving AI innovation and the growing importance of human preferences in shaping powerful models.

"There is a really interesting development happening in the industry, which is all these models had to get bigger only to get smaller." - Manu Sharma

Key Points From This Episode:

• The shift from traditional data labeling to sophisticated AI alignment post-ChatGPT.
• The role of Ph.D.-level experts in training and aligning foundation models.
• How RLHF (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback) has become essential in AI development.
• The impact of generative AI on enterprise productivity and consumer applications.
• The concept of model distillation and its importance in creating efficient, smaller models.
• The future potential of AI assistants and the economic implications of AI pricing models.
• Labelbox’s evolution into a data factory, powering major foundation models with high-quality data.
• The ongoing challenges in AI, including the need for better reasoning capabilities in models.
• The distinction between pre-training and post-training data needs and strategies.
• The potential of AI in real-world applications, including robotics and specialized industry