OpenAI seeks to increase global AI use in everyday life
It aims to expand the reach of its products and close the gap between countries with and without access to AI
[SAN FRANCISCO] OpenAI is expanding its efforts to convince global governments to build more data centres and encourage greater usage of artificial intelligence (AI), in areas such as education, health and disaster preparedness.
The initiative, OpenAI for Countries, will expand the reach of its products and help close the gap between countries with broad access to AI technology, and nations that do not yet have the capacity, the company said.
The company, the creator of ChatGPT, also hopes to encourage deeper usage of its tools, adding that the AI systems are capable of more complex tasks than many people realise.
“Most countries are still operating far short of what today’s AI systems make possible,” It said in a report.
It started the international initiative last year, and appointed former British finance minister George Osborne to oversee the project in December.
Osborne and Chris Lehane, OpenAI chief global affairs officer, are pitching government officials on the project in Davos, Switzerland, this week.
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The initiative is part of a broader strategy that has helped cement OpenAI at the vanguard of the modern AI boom. The company was most recently worth US$500 billion, and is exploring a public offering that could be worth as much as US$1 trillion.
Eleven countries have signed up for OpenAI for Countries, with each deal structured differently.
For example, Estonia is embedding OpenAI’s education tool, ChatGPT Edu, into secondary schools across the country. In Norway and the United Arab Emirates, OpenAI is working with other companies to build data centres and become their first customer.
On Wednesday (Jan 21), OpenAI executives said that they were hoping to work with governments in other areas, like disaster planning.
In South Korea, OpenAI is exploring a deal with the government’s water authority to build a real-time, water-disaster warning and defence system against water problems driven by climate change.
In its report, OpenAI said its typical “power user” – or those in the 95th percentile – reaches for OpenAI’s advanced reasoning capabilities seven times more often than a typical user. There are also big gaps within countries.
For example, in Singapore, which has broad access to AI tools, people send more than three times more messages about coding than average, the report added. REUTERS
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