The report said that industry continues to lead frontier AI research, producing 51 notable machine learning models in 2023, while academia contributed only 15. A new high of 21 notable models resulted from industry-academia collaborations in 2023.
It notes that the training costs of state-of-the-art AI models have skyrocketed. For instance, OpenAI’s GPT-4 used an estimated €70 million worth of computing to train, while Google’s Gemini Ultra cost a whopping €172 million for computing.
The United States leads China, the EU, and the U.K. as the leading source of top AI models. In 2023, 61 notable AI models originated from U.S.-based institutions, far outpacing the European Union’s 21 and China’s 15.
New research from the AI Index reveals a significant lack of standardisation in responsible AI reporting. Leading developers, including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, primarily test their models against different responsible AI benchmarks, complicating efforts to systematically compare top AI models' risks and limitations.
Despite declining overall AI private investment last year, funding for generative AI surged, nearly octupling from 2022 to reach €22.7 billion. Major players in the generative AI space, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face, and Inflection, reported substantial fundraising rounds.
In 2023, several studies assessed AI’s impact on labour, suggesting that AI enables workers to complete tasks more quickly and improve their output quality. These studies also demonstrated AI’s potential to bridge the skill gap between low- and high-skilled workers. However, other studies caution that using AI without proper oversight can lead to diminished performance.
In 2022, AI began to advance scientific discovery. 2023, however, saw the launch of even more significant science-related AI applications – from AlphaDev, which makes algorithmic sorting more efficient, to GNoME, which facilitates the process of materials discovery.
Meanwhile, the report noted that the number of AI-related regulations in the US. has risen significantly in the past year and over the last five years. In 2023, there were 25 AI-related regulations, up from just one in 2016. Last year alone, the number of AI-related regulations grew by 56.3 per cent.
A survey from Ipsos shows that, over the last year, the proportion of those who think AI will dramatically affect their lives in the next three to five years has increased from 60 per cent to 66 per cent. Moreover, 52 per cent expressed nervousness toward AI products and services, marking a 13 percentage point rise from 2022. In America, Pew data suggests that 52 per cent of Americans report feeling more concerned than excited about AI, rising from 37 per cent in 2022.