[Book Sip] AI Battle Among Meta, Google, and Amazon... What About Korea?

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As of 2023, the world is in an AI war. In November 2022, OpenAI introduced GPT-3.5. Meta (Facebook) launched LLaMA, Google released Bard, and Amazon introduced Bedrock, among others. Now, global big tech companies are fiercely competing to dominate the artificial intelligence market. So, what about Korea's artificial intelligence? Ha Jung-woo, head of Naver Cloud AI Innovation Center, forecasts the present and future of AI in South Korea.

The era of artificial intelligence is unfolding, and large-scale AI is triggering this change. In the past, when using AI for specific tasks or functions, people consciously thought, "I am using AI now," clicking menus with keyboards or mice and typing text. However, many recent technologies allow users to interact very naturally, almost conversationally, without the conscious thought of "I have to use AI." Communication with machines now happens through voice like human-to-human conversation, and we have entered an era where virtually all actions can be connected. - p.18, from Chapter 1: The Beginning of an Irresistible Intellectual Revolution

The key area for AI's tremendous development over the next decade will be hardware, especially semiconductors. Operating large-scale AI consumes enormous energy, i.e., electricity. We must optimize and lighten the semiconductors used in AI services to drastically reduce energy costs. The human body uses very little energy. Although humans make many errors, they work very efficiently with energy, whereas current large-scale AI consumes massive amounts of energy to operate. This raises questions about sustainability. ... If the cost is high, usage fees will also be high, limiting widespread use. Currently, global tech companies are spending heavily in a "kill or be killed" manner, but this approach is not sustainable. - pp.49-50, from Chapter 1: The Beginning of an Irresistible Intellectual Revolution

Now, the position of mid-sized companies centered on AI technology seems ambiguous. Global big tech companies will provide various functions through large-scale AI platforms, making service-oriented companies that can be easily replaced face difficulties. They will need to seek survival through mergers and acquisitions or by providing component technologies to big tech. ... If we try to compete solely on technology, in image generation, it would be a one-on-one battle with Adobe, and in language, a one-on-one competition with OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google, which is now realistically difficult. - pp.81-82, from Chapter 2: How to View the Large-Scale AI Pandemic

AI War | Written by Ha Jung-woo & Han Sang-gi | HanbitBiz | 360 pages | 19,800 KRW