THIS BILLION SECONDS: AI@70 EP 2 -- THE WATERSHED

THE NEXT BILLION SECONDS: AI@70

EP 2: THE WATERSHED

ChatGPT opened the door to artificial intelligence. Almost immediately, researchers built 'agents' using it - but three years of hard yards passed before agents were 'good enough' to be useful. In this episode we trace the path from 'bad' to 'good enough' agents - and what it unlocked as we 'crossed the watershed'.

No one really thought that on the last day of November in 2022, the world would change completely. Not even the folks closest to it. Like Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, who said, "We always knew we'd hit a tipping point,"

"But we didn't know what the moment would be."

His firm modestly promoted a 'research preview' of their new AI chatbot.ChatGPT.

G'day, I'm Mark Pesce and this billion seconds are already unfolding as the most significant of this century.

In this miniseries, celebrating the 70th anniversary of artificial intelligence, we're looking at where we’ve come from, how we got here - and where we seem to be going.

Because we’re travelling at the speed of thought.

ChatGPT promised artificial intelligence on tap for everyone. But it took another three years for that promise to be realised.

This episode traces that story, from something kids used to do their homework for them - into a tool reshaping our economy.

That's on this episode of This Billion Seconds.