✨ The promise of open-source generative AI

My conversation with Emad Mostaque, founder and CEO of Stability AI

Within five years, the open-source AI will have raised the GDP of the poorest countries. That is the premise of my conversation with Emad Mostaque¹, founder and CEO of Stability AI, one of the companies behind Stable Diffusion.

Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs published a research brief titled “The Potentially Large Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth”², in which the authors explore the future of the labour market. The study suggested that global productivity could see an impressive uptick, ultimately boosting global GDP by 7%.

In this conversation, we discuss what would need to be true to make this happen. Open-source AI is one part of the answer.

“The Potentially Large Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth”, Goldman Sachs, 2023

Emad and I go into this, and more…

• Why Stability AI decided to focus on creating specialist models, opposed to the general models that the largest AI labs such as OpenAI and DeepMind focus on,

• How the developing markets could leap forward in intelligence augmentation to their advantage — what this entails in terms of data, technology access and talent,

• The intricacies of open-source AI businesses: How open-source can ensure adaptability and safety are built into AI systems; and how Stability and its peers make money.

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Dig deeper

🐙 After AI, where will the jobs come from?

1. Serious criticism was levelled against Emad Mostaque in a Forbes article a couple of weeks after we recorded this conversation. Emad has rejected all accusations and the debate continues. He remains at the helm of Stability AI and is an important force in the expanding AI universe.

2. “The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth,” Goldman Sachs, 2023