The influx of significant capital into artificial intelligence, as indicated by the CEO of Google’s DeepMind, is poised to create substantial attention and potential fraudulent activities.
- The substantial financial influx in AI could lead to high levels of excitement and “even some fraudulent schemes,” according to Demis Hassabis.
- “AI is currently highly hyped, but in some aspects, it is significantly overvalued,” stated the chief of Google DeepMind.
- Investors have injected close to $30 billion into generative AI transactions in 2023, as reported by PitchBook.
Demis Hassabis, the leader of Google DeepMind, asserts that the surge in AI funding “brings a plethora of hype and potentially some fraudulent behavior.”
“In many ways, AI is currently overly hyped, but in certain aspects, it is overly promoted,” Hassabis expressed to the Financial Times in an article released on Sunday. “We are confronting numerous fallacies that are simply not true.”
Hassabis mentioned to the Financial Times that the fervor among investors for AI reminded him of “other excessively hyped areas” such as bitcoin.
“Some of that hype has now spilled over into AI, which I find rather concerning,” remarked Hassabis to the publication. “It obscures the technology and the research, which is extraordinary.”
In response to the escalating interest in AI, investors have funneled billions of dollars into companies operating within this sector. In September, Amazon disclosed its intention to invest $4 billion in the AI startup, Anthropic.
This trend is not exclusive to Amazon. According to financial data provider PitchBook, investors have channeled close to $30 billion into 691 generative AI transactions in 2023.
Fred Havemeyer, the head of US AI and software research at Macquarie, conveyed to CNBC in March that investors “certainly do not want to miss the opportunity to be part of the AI ecosystem.”
“I strongly believe that there is apprehension in this field,” Havemeyer remarked.
Demis Hassabis’ cautions regarding potential fraudulent activities in the realm of AI are not baseless.
In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled charges against two investment advisors for disseminating “false and deceptive statements” concerning their utilization of artificial intelligence.
During a speech in February, SEC chair Gary Gensler stated, “We have observed on multiple occasions that with the emergence of new technologies, there can be excitement from investors as well as misleading assertions from the modern-day Professor Hills,” referencing a con artist character from the movie “The Music Man.”
“If a company is raising capital from the public, it should be transparent about its implementation of AI and the associated risks,” Gensler emphasized.
There was no response to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours to Hassabis’ team.
On February 28, Axel Springer, the parent company of Business Insider, along with 31 other media entities, filed a $2.3 billion lawsuit against Google in a Dutch court, alleging damages incurred due to the company’s advertising practices.
