3: GPT-3 Emerges
GPT-3 was released in mid-2020. Built on GPT-2, it can generate text from a prompt, generate predictive text, or be used for longer written work following specific templates.
Maybe it was because the world was otherwise occupied, but the emergence of GPT-3 didn't make too much of a splash. It is billed as being released on June of 2020, and since developers can always work remotely, the great work-from-home phase of the last few years didn't hinder work on this or many other AI models. (It was opened to the wider world late in 2021, and plenty of businesses noticed.)
However, in hindsight, it's intriguing to go looking at what was going on among various tech companies and interests. One of the founders of OpenAI, Elon Musk, had left the a position as chairman of the company in 2018. Knowing what we know now about Musk's high profile antics, his seeming criticism of the organization and its projects may send off more alarm bells than they would have in 2020. This very brief article, for example, features some of his warnings about AI. Bill Gates answers back. The whole discussion-- which, I am sure, has a lot more substance than CNN Business reports-- was precipitated by a deal Microsoft made to "acquire an exclusive license for GPT-3." Again-- it's probably worth diving more into this.