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Introduction

Welcome to the World of AI in 2023 - Year of the LLM 2023 has been a groundbreaking year for Artificial Intelligence, arguably the most transformative in human history. This last year no doubt stood out as the Year of the Large Language Model (LLM), fueled by the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022. This year witnessed an explosion in LLMs and related products, but it wasn't just LLMs that caught our attention. The advancements in multimodal models, integrations, development tools, and the unfolding drama in regulation and corporate landscapes we found equally captivating.

My name is Tarun Thummala, and I’m the CEO at PressW, an AI agency that now specializes in building custom LLM solutions for businesses. We were founded in January 2023 and since then we've had the privilege of working on over 30 projects across 20 clients in 4 industries. Myself and my other two co-founders came with a background in traditional ML and AI, so it’s been fascinating tying our experience with the new age of AI.

Read more about us in our feature in Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pressw-spearheads-future-business-operations-171000690.html

We wanted to put this article together to encapsulate the remarkable advancements in AI over the past year and reflect on how they have reshaped our world. In particular we wanted to look at how businesses and the world overall is changing, and how these advancements are fueling this change. Don’t worry, we put this article together to be useful to everyone, regardless of familiarity with AI or LLMs. I will serve as your guide, so without further ado, let’s dive in!

LLM Progress

The Evolution of LLMs

I believe it makes sense to dive straight into how LLMs evolved over the last year. If I had to describe the rate of LLM growth over the last year, I’d have to say: frightening.

Of course the juggernaut, behemoth, raid boss of the space is most definitely OpenAI, led by Sam Altman and his team of brilliant disrupters. For everything that follows, remember, ChatGPT came out in November 2022.

Here’s GPT-4 in response to the query “look into upcoming clinical trials”. In the LangSmith user interface, we can see how GPT-4 searched the internet for the latest clinical trial data and then summarized it for the reader.

Since it’s introductions we’ve seen explosive growth in the scene. Within one year, we’ve already experienced the release of GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo by OpenAI, Claude by Anthropic, and open-source models like Meta’s Llama.

These newer models are able to process larger amounts of information, answer questions more accurately, and even reason about complex problems better. As evidence by this: GPT-3.5 (ChatGPT) was reported to have an IQ of about 85. GPT-4 on the other hand has recently scored with an IQ of 155. Within one year. We’re pretty sure most people aren’t really grasping how much better these models are getting and how quickly. I’ll sprinkle another mind-bender at you. GPT-4 was created 2 years ago! BEFORE ChatGPT even came out. It’s been two years since OpenAI created GPT-4, now just imagine how powerful their next one will be. We may actually be far closer to Superintelligence or AGI than we ever thought.

Multi-Modality

Vision and Sound Take Center Stage

LLM stand for large language model. So it makes sense that most of the applications have focused around written text as data inputs and outputs. But in 2023 we experienced yet another massive jump forward in AI capabilities. Introducing Multi-Modal Models. These are LLMs that are able to accept not only text inputs, but also images, videos, sound, etc. that they can use to factor into their answers.

Our cofounder Bryson reimagined on a tropical beach. Here, a multimodal LLM transcribed his appearance from the photo on the left, and when prompted with the location “beach” and outfit “a silver suit”, generated the below descriptions before passing them to another multimodal LLM that created the final image on the right.

{
  "background": "A serene white sand beach with gentle turquoise waves lapping at the shore. Palm trees sway in a light breeze at the edge of the beach, with a vibrant blue sky dotted with wispy clouds overhead. In the distance, a wooden lifeguard stand overlooks the scene, giving a sense of scale and human presence without being obtrusive.",
  "outfit": "A fitted silver metallic suit with a subtle shimmer, featuring a two-button jacket, slim-fit trousers, and a crisp white dress shirt underneath.",
  "user_appearance": "The user has light skin, dark brown hair that is slightly tousled, and a hint of facial hair on his chin and mustache area. He has rectangular glasses with thin frames, and his eyes are partly smiling, suggesting a friendly demeanor. The user's nose is medium in length and size, and his ears are of average size, aligned with his eyes. His jawline is rounded, and he appears to be a young adult.",
  "composition": "The image shows a close-up selfie taken from a low angle, with the user's face centered in the frame. The user is wearing over-ear headphones and a black hoodie. The user's expression is soft and approachable, with a slight smile."
}

Leading this charge is yet again, OpenAI. The development of their AI technologies like GPT Vision has significantly altered the way we interact with our computers. This change is huge—it's like stepping into the future. Now, instead of typing commands or clicking with a mouse, we can simply talk to our computers or show them a picture to get things done. This makes using computers much easier and more natural for everyone.

In the field of digital art, the progress is equally impressive. Tools like Pika and Runway are at the forefront of this change, enabling artists and even beginners to create stunning, realistic artwork with just a few clicks. Midjourney is yet another groundbreaking tool that's making waves by producing images so lifelike, it's hard to tell they're created by a computer.

The Midjourney-generated photo of Pope Francis that took the internet by storm in May of 2023.

The Future with AI: More Connected and Intelligent Systems As we look to the future, the exciting part is how different AI models are starting to connect and work together. Imagine having a team of smart tools, each good at different things, but when combined, they can solve bigger, more complex problems. This is not just a small step; it's a giant leap in AI technology.

These connected systems can lead to smarter and more helpful AI. For example, in the future, you might have an AI assistant that not only understands your questions but can also suggest creative videos and images for your marketing campaign or even optimize your calendar.

This evolution in AI technology is more than just improving what computers can do; it's about transforming them into partners that can help us in many aspects of our daily lives, from education to entertainment. As these AI systems become more integrated and advanced, we're entering an era where the possibilities are endless, and the advancements we're going to witness will be both remarkable and essential for our future.

AI in Existing Products

Generative AI in Mainstream Applications

Big companies are really embracing AI, making it a key part of the apps and software we use daily. Figma, a popular design tool, now includes an AI-powered design generator that can help create amazing graphics and layouts with less effort. Google and Microsoft are not far behind; they've introduced AI assistants, known as "copilots," into their office software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These AI copilots can help with writing, data analysis, and even making presentations. Apple, too, is enhancing its products with AI. A great example is the smarter autocorrect feature on iPhones and iPads, which makes typing messages faster and less prone to errors. All these examples show how AI is becoming a normal part of the software we use every day, making them smarter and easier to use.

Vercel’s V0 lets you use generative AI to create a full website and tweak everything about it without writing a single line of code.

The Emerging AI-First Approach in Product Design We're only just beginning to explore the full potential of AI in enhancing everyday products. More companies are starting to design their products with AI at the core, a trend known as the AI-first approach. This means that instead of adding AI as an afterthought, products are being built around AI capabilities from the start. This approach can make products much smarter, more intuitive, and more useful.

Here’s a nugget to chew on. Traditionally products had to be designed with a certain user flow in mind. Essentially you try to look at the happy path a user can take and build a code based interface around that. This is because once you write the code for a part of an app, it’s static. Now imagine a world where code can be written by an AI at runtime. If an intelligent AI was watching a user interact with a product and was dynamically updating the interface… you have a world where infinite user flows are possible. You no longer have to program for the mean case, you can program for goals and have the AI craft the experience to get to the goal in the most optimal flow for each individual user.

Development Tools

AI Changing How We Create Software In the world of making software and apps, some really smart tools are showing how important AI is. We are immensely bullish on AI code creation tools. LLMs are naturally very good at programming. This is largely because they are trained on an immense amount of sample code, and if you think about it, C#, Python, HTML, are called programming languages for a reason.

Tools like Cursor, an AI-first Code Editor, Github Copilot, or Warp AI-terminal are dramatically reducing the amount of time and effort required to program. 41% of code being generated is created by AI!

GitHub’s Copilot is one of the most advanced copilots we’ve worked with. By just typing out the text in white to give the AI an idea of what we want to do next, the AI uses the context of the code we’ve written previously to generate exactly what we need.

How These Tools Are Changing Software Development What does this all mean? Well, for one, the barrier to creating applications is dramatically going down. At the start of 2024, programmers are still necessary to actually build and deploy these applications. But the more these tools advance, it’s not unrealistic to imagine a reality where you can simply say something like “make me an app to track my calories, my daily weight updates, and my progress photos”, and within 5 minutes you have your own personal application, made just for you, and made exactly the way you prefer.

These tools aren't just making small changes; they're completely transforming how people make software and apps. They're taking AI to the next level, making it more powerful and easier for everyone to use. This means that people who build apps and software can do things they couldn't do before. They can solve harder problems, make their apps smarter, and even create new kinds of software that we haven't seen yet. It's a big leap forward, making the future of programming and app development really exciting

Hardware Innovations

AI-Enhanced Hardware Emerges

2023 marked the first year we started to see AI-first hardware products. Rewind and Humane dropped their first wearable AI pieces of technology. Close follow-up in early 2024 was Rabbit R1.

Humane’s AI pin clips onto to your shirt and syncs with your devices so you can easily ask it questions and quickly get a response, either using its speaker or a projection that displays on your hand.

The development of new gadgets with built-in AI, like Rewind's AI pendant and Humane's AI pin, is a big deal because it's changing the way we use technology. These aren't just regular gadgets; they're like smart assistants you can wear. They can do things like helping you remember important stuff or giving you information right when you need it. This is important because it makes using AI super easy and part of our normal life.

Big companies are also creating special chips that make these gadgets even smarter. These chips are really important because they are the power behind the gadgets, making the AI work better and faster. This is a big step forward in technology because it means that AI can be included in all sorts of things we use every day, not just in computers or phones.

Why AI Gadgets Will Change Our Future In the future, with gadgets like the Rabbit R1, we're going to see a lot more devices that are made just for AI. This is really exciting because it means AI will be everywhere and help us in many ways. Imagine having a small gadget that can talk to you and help with your school projects, remind you of your friend's birthday, or even give you directions when you're lost. These gadgets could make our lives easier and more fun.

This shift towards AI-enhanced hardware is important because it will make advanced technology more available to everyone. It's not just about having cool new gadgets; it's about making our daily tasks easier and helping us to be more efficient. As these gadgets become more common, they will become a normal part of our lives, just like smartphones are today. This is why the development of AI-enhanced gadgets is such an important step towards a future where technology makes our lives better in many new and exciting ways."

Regulatory Landscape

Regulation in the AI Arena

One final point we wanted to touch upon, is AI regulation. For most people in the AI world, regulation is a hotly discussed topic. Most people believe that AI regulation is necessary and some like Elon even believe we are behind the ball when it comes to regulating AI.

This camp of people have sound arguments. The rate of advancement is terrifying and the capabilities of these new models can be absolutely used for bad actors. Deep fakes, scams, and the like can have huge impacts on everyday people and without AI regulation, companies may unknowingly release tech that is too powerful and can be wielded with malice. In recent news, the US executive order limiting the publication of foundational model weights and the NYT vs. OpenAI case highlight the complexities in AI regulation. Additionally with initiatives like the White House's AI bill of rights, the future looks hopeful as we're moving towards a more structured regulatory framework for AI.

Looking Ahead

And with that, we have arrived at the end of PressW’s 2023 AI recap.

From our perspective as AI enthusiasts, evangelists, and builders, 2023 was the biggest year of our lives. AI technology is growing almost exponentially and not a day goes by without a new tech, model, or announcement. I firmly believe that there is not a more exciting industry or time to be building. We’re very excited to continue pumping out LLM technology to our clients and helping redefine how businesses are built. We don’t anticipate any slowdowns in 2024 so stay tuned to get the latest updates into the world of AI. Thanks for reading everyone!