You may have heard the word Generative AI startups being thrown around a lot these days. It’s one of those words which you vaguely understand but can’t really ask anyone for fear of looking foolish.
So- let me first address that. What is Generative AI?
Generative AI models are essentially AI models that are trained on a vast data set, and have the ability to generate new or ‘novel’ outputs based on recombination of the data they have been trained on. Today, humans can interact with most such models by use of text prompts.
What Are Generative AI Startups?
There are a ton of startups vying for a piece of the pie in this space, trying to capitalise on the Generative AI trend. I mean- if you can create content (written word, audio, video) at scale using AI- that just opens up SO many opportunities across Industries, doesn’t it?
You have startups like Jasper.Ai, founded in 2021 that are building an AI platform that helps write website copy, blog articles, social media ads and much more. Similarly, other companies are building their brands in the audio and video content spaces.
In just the past 3 months, a huge number of competitors have sprouted up in the generative AI space however that are seeking to unbundle the offerings of those that came earlier like Jasper. For instance- I have tried out 3 SEO blog writing tools just in the past 20 days. Like these, there are multiple other companies that are targeting just a small niche in the entire ecosystem.
Criticism For Generative AI Startups (And Is There A Way Forward?)
There are a lot of people who say there is nothing proprietary about these companies.
They say this because the underlying engine behind these generative AI startups are established Large Language Models like Chat GPT or Text To Image Models like Stable Diffusion or MidJourney.
The gold rush that has been kicked off in this space is because founders realised they could capitalise on these amazing AI models and build their applications on top of those- which is exactly why detractors say there is no moat- anyone can build a competitor for these companies.
Which is right, in a way- but my sense is:
Branding, marketing and ‘business’ skills are going to be of utmost importance in this era- because AI has democratised access to tech and software skills.
The businesses that win in the next 20 years of this AI goldrush will either be building the picks and shovels (like Open AI) or be building businesses on top of these AI models.
That’s all for today- slightly different format but I hope you liked this!