Behind Nvidia: The search for AI's next breakthrough
For a few days, AI chip juggernaut Nvidia sat on the throne as the world’s biggest company, but behind its staggering success are questions on whether new entrants can stake a claim to the artificial intelligence bonanza.
Nvidia, which makes the processors that are the only option to train generative AI’s large language models, is now Big Tech’s newest member and its stock market takeoff has lifted the whole sector. Even tech’s second rung on Wall Street has ridden on Nvidia’s coattails with Oracle, Broadcom, HP, and a spate of others seeing their stock valuations surge, despite sometimes shaky earnings.
The Future of AI
Amid the champagne popping, startups seeking the attention of Silicon Valley venture capitalists are being asked to innovate — but without a clear indication of where the next chapter of AI will be written.
When it comes to generative AI, doubts persist on what exactly will be left for companies that are not existing model makers, a field dominated by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Most agree that competing with them head-on could be a fool’s errand.
Some have tried to build applications that use or mimic the powers of the existing big models, but this is being slapped down by Silicon Valley’s biggest players. Venture capital veteran Vinod Khosla, one of OpenAI’s earliest investors, expressed concerns about companies that put only a “thin wrapper” around what the AI models can offer, stating that they are doomed in the long run.
Specialized AI
One of the fields ripe for the taking is chip design, with AI demanding ever more specialized processors that provide highly specific powers.
Providing more specialized processing for the many demands of AI is an opportunity seized by Groq, a startup that has built chips for the deployment of AI as opposed to its training, or inference — the specialty of Nvidia’s world-dominating GPUs.
Groq CEO Jonathan Ross highlighted the importance of specialized AI, stating that Nvidia won’t excel at everything, especially when it comes to inference tasks. He compared Nvidia to Michael Jordan in basketball, acknowledging their dominance in one area but suggesting room for improvement in others.
Highly Specialized Data
Another opportunity in the AI space will come from highly specialized AI that will provide expertise and know-how based on proprietary data which won’t be co-opted by voracious big tech.
Profiting from highly specialized data is the basis of Cohere, a startup that offers specifically-made models to businesses concerned about AI control. Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez emphasized the importance of winning the trust of enterprises and proving the reliability, trustworthiness, and security of AI technology.
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