How AI Went From Joke to Ubiquity in 70 Years

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  • The volume and granularity of data is exploding right now, mostly because every object in the world is becoming a data-producing device.
  • In 2020, the world produced about 47 zettabytes of data. That number is expected to grow by more than 45X to 2,142 zettabytes of data by 2035.
  • The best way to play the AI Revolution is by buying the stocks that are changing the paradigm in which they exist.
AI - How AI Went From Joke to Ubiquity in 70 Years

Source: ktsdesign / Shutterstock

Editor’s note: “How AI Went From Joke to Ubiquity in 70 Years” was previously published in January 2023. It has since been updated to include the most relevant information available.

It’s October 1950. Alan Turing, the genius who cracked the Enigma code and helped end World War II, has just introduced a novel concept.

It’s called the “Turing Test,” and it’s aimed at answering the fundamental question: Can machines think?

The world laughs. Machines think for themselves? Not possible.

However, the Turing Test sets in motion decades of research into the emerging field of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This research is conducted in the world’s most prestigious labs by some of the world’s smartest people. Collectively, they’re working to create a new class of computers and machines that can, indeed, think for themselves.

Fast forward 70 years.

AI is everywhere.

It’s in your phones. What do you think powers Siri? How does a phone recognize your face?

It’s in your applications. How does Google Maps know directions and optimal routes? How does it make real-time changes based on traffic? And how does Spotify create hyper-personalized playlists or Netflix recommend movies?

AI is on your computers. How does Google suggest personalized search items for you? How do websites use chatbots that seem like real humans?

As it turns out, the world shouldn’t have laughed back in 1950.

The great Alan Turing ended up creating a robust foundation upon which seven decades of groundbreaking research has compounded. Ultimately, it resulted in self-thinking computers and machines not just being a “thing” but being everything.

Today’s AI Is Just the Beginning

The most potent example that is on everyone’s minds these days is ChatGPT – the conversational AI platform built by OpenAI. Since December, ChatGPT has wowed the world with its ability to do just about everything.

It can answer any question you have about the history of the stock market or explain complex topics – like AI itself – in simple terms. It can help you with your algebra homework. And it can write advertisements, draft resumes, give relationship advice, write music, and even crack jokes.

Apparently, it can also be a lawyer (ChatGPT just took and passed the University of Minnesota’s law school final exams).

ChatGPT’s incredible abilities have taken the internet by storm. In just 40 days, the platform has amassed over 10 million daily active users – making it the fastest growing tech platform ever. By comparison, Instagram – previously esteemed as one of the fastest growing tech platforms ever – took 355 days to hit 10 million users, or about 9X as long.

A graph detailing the change in ChatGPT's daily active user growth over time compared to Instagram's 1-year launch pace
Source: similarWEB / ARK Invest

You may be wildly impressed by ChatGPT. And you should be. I am, too.

But make no mistake. ChatGPT is just the start.

The decades-in-the-making AI Revolution has only just begun. And over the next few years, it will sling toward us like a meteor from outer space, dramatically impacting how we eat, play, travel, work, and more.

It will change everything about everything.

And to understand why, we need to peek behind the curtain.

Understanding AI

AI is really just a catch-all term for machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) models that learn from themselves and get better and smarter over time.

Those models are entirely informed by data.

Basically, the more data they have, the more they can learn, the better the models get, and the more capable AI becomes.

Indeed, in the AI world, data is everything.

Think of it this way.

If AI were a car, data is its fuel. The data powers the AI model. It helps it get from Point A (an instruction or a command) to Point B (an action).

From this perspective, AI models are about to be injected with a whole bunch of fuel.

The global volume and granularity of data is exploding right now. That’s mostly because every object in the world is becoming a data-producing device.

Over the past 20 years, we have seen a significant shift toward the “Smart World.” Dumb phones have become smartphones, and dumb cars have become smart cars. Dumb apps have become smart apps, and dumb watches have become smartwatches.

These devices have all begun to generate large amounts of data, like phone usage data, in-car driving data, consumer preference data, and fitness and activity data.

As we’ve sprinted into this “Smart World,” the amount and speed of data that AI algorithms have access to has exploded. And it’s making those AI algos more capable than ever…

The Data Boom

For example, every minute, Twitter users post 575,000 tweets. Google conducts 5.7 million searches. Slack users send 148,000 messages. Netflix (NFLX) viewers stream 452,000 hours.

A infographic detailing the volume of data sent every 60 seconds on the internet
Source: DOMO

Companies gather and analyze all that data. And they use it to train their AI algos and make them infinitely smarter.

Why else do you think AI has started popping up everywhere in recent years? It’s because the volume of data we’ve created and consumed increased by more than 50% over the past two years.

More data. Better ML and NLP models. Smarter AI.

It’s that simple.

AI’s Explosive Acceleration

And guess what? The world isn’t going to take any steps back in terms of this “smart” pivot. No. We love our smartphones, smart cars, and smart watches too much.

Instead, society will accelerate in this transition. In 2020, the world produced about 47 zettabytes of data. That number is expected to grow by more than 45X to 2,142 zettabytes of data by 2035.

A graph showing the rise in global data creation over time
Source: Statista

Let’s go back to our process…

More data. Better ML and NLP models. Smarter AI.

Thus, as the volume of data produced soars more than 45X over the next few years, ML and NLP models will get 45X better (more or less), and AI machines will get 45X smarter (more or less).

And as my friends in the AI and robotics fields like to remind me: Most things a human does, a machine will be able to do better, faster, and cheaper. If not now, then soon.

Given the advancements AI has made over the past few years with the help of data – and the huge flood of data set to come online over the next few years – I’m inclined to believe them.

ChatGPT is just the start.

Eventually – and inevitably – the world will be run by hyperefficient and hyperintelligent AI.

I’m not alone in thinking this. Gartner predicts that 69% of routine office work will be fully automated by 2024, while the World Economic Forum has said that robots will handle 52% of current work tasks by 2025.

The AI Revolution is coming – and it’s going to be the biggest revolution you’ve ever seen in your lifetime.

The Final Word

Needless to say, as a hypergrowth investor, you need to be invested in this emerging technological megatrend that promises to change the world forever.

But, alas, the question remains: What AI stocks should you start buying right now?

You could play it safe and go with the blue-chip tech giants. All are making inroads with AI and represent low-risk, low-reward plays on the AI Revolution. I’m talking Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Adobe (ADBE), and Apple (AAPL).

But that’s not how we do things. We don’t like “safe” – we like “best.” And the best way to play the AI Revolution is by buying…

Well, of course, I can’t tell you here. That would be unfair to the paid subscribers of our flagship investment research advisory Innovation Investor. In that service, we own what we believe are the best AI stocks to buy right now.

One is a tiny AI tech firm that is working on applying AI to the world of transportation.

It’s a small company, with a promising technology, disrupting a huge market.

That’s a recipe for a potential huge stock winner.

Click here to find out its name and plug into the AI Revolution.

On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/hypergrowthinvesting/2023/01/machine-learning-breakthroughs-have-sparked-the-ai-revolution/.

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