Two years ago, in a seminal moment for the industry, tech startup OpenAI launched its next-gen chatbot, ChatGPT. That was, after all, the moment that many consider the dawn of the Age of AI.
But that splashy debut may well have just been OpenAI getting its feet wet.
Now it appears the company is preparing for its ‘second act.’ We think it could be far bigger than its first. And it may even lead OpenAI to become the most important and powerful company in the world.
That’s because the firm is quickly gaining ground when it comes to artificial general intelligence (AGI), widely considered the endgame for AI development.
AGI is the top tier of the AI pyramid. As McKinsey & Company explains, it will be able to “replicate human-like cognitive abilities including reasoning, problem solving, perception, learning, and language comprehension.”
“AGI tools could feature cognitive and emotional abilities (like empathy) indistinguishable from those of a human. Depending on your definition of AGI, they might even be capable of consciously grasping the meaning behind what they’re doing.”
Clearly, when this AI breakthrough is achieved, it will be an incredibly big deal, likely reshaping every facet of our daily lives.
And right now, OpenAI is making leaps and bounds toward this near-fantastical future.
Paving the Path to the AI Endgame
The company recently launched a landmark new AI model – ChatGPT o1 – capable of complex reasoning.
Of course, there are a lot of AI models out there right now. But in terms of structure, intelligence, and capabilities, most are extremely similar. These models – like ChatGPT 4, Gemini, Claude, and Grok – are mostly just chatbots capable of conversational language and not much else.
These bots can engage in dialogues, answer questions, and perform tasks. But for the most part, their responses are based on pre-programmed scripts and/or simple pattern matching.
In other words, they aren’t really ‘thinking.’
But ChatGPT o1 reportedly thinks.
It goes beyond simple pattern recognition. ChatGPT o1 can engage in logical thinking, make inferences, understand cause-and-effect relationships, and solve problems by applying principles or rules learned during training. As such, it can go beyond just helping us automate tasks and, instead, help us to solve hard problems.
In fact, in its introduction of this new model, OpenAI claimed, “o1 can be used by healthcare researchers to annotate cell sequencing data, by physicists to generate complicated mathematical formulas needed for quantum optics, and by developers in all fields to build and execute multi-step workflows.”
This is a massive achievement in AI development. And the results appear stunning.
Each week, the TrackingAI project provides IQ quizzes to a variety of AI models. Most models out there right now – like ChatGPT 4, Llama 3.1, Claude, Grok, and Bing Copilot – score around 80 to 90 on those IQ tests.
The average human IQ is around 100. Therefore, current AI models are slightly less ‘intelligent’ than the average human.
But ChatGPT o1 scored a 124 on TrackingAI’s IQ test.
That is almost 50% better than most other AI models. And it is just below the threshold for genius – an IQ above 130 – which is reserved for just 2% of the human population.
In other words, ChatGPT o1’s complex reasoning breakthrough looks like a leapfrog forward in AI development.
The Final Word
This groundbreaking development puts OpenAI one massive step closer to achieving AGI.
Maybe that’s why the company is currently looking to raise billions of dollars at a lofty valuation of $150 billion – and why so many are rushing to participate in that funding round…
Indeed, Microsoft is reportedly looking to invest. So is Apple. And Nvidia, too.
When was the last time that Microsoft, Apple, and Nvidia all invested in the same startup? That’s not a rhetorical question; I don’t know the answer for sure. But I think this may be the very first time.
In fact, we posed this same question to ChatGPT. (And, of course, take its response with a grain of salt.) But it seems the bot can corroborate this.
Perhaps these companies see the writing on the wall – that ChatGPT o1 puts OpenAI at the front of the pack when it comes to achieving AGI.
And, believe it or not, we think OpenAI’s potential ascent toward ‘AGI creator’ will create huge tailwinds for Apple.
Find out why – and how to profit from it.
On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
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