The OpenAI Saga: What Comes Next?
By Greg Kahn
Emerging Tech Exchange
Founder & CEO
Published on November 29, 2023
“OpenAI’s rivals this week raced to capitalize on the turmoil engulfing the artificial intelligence powerhouse, targeting its customers with incentives to switch to their platforms,” wrote the WSJ’s Belle Lin on Monday.
Google, Meta, Amazon all naturally revved up their existing efforts to carve out relationships for themselves as the “alternative” to OpenAI, which was thrust into chaos, gossip, and even some doubt when, a week before the holiday, the nonprofit's board ousted CEO Sam Altman. Within five days, Altman was back at the helm of OpenAI — and with new board members.
Adam Selipsky, the CEO of Amazon’s cloud division, told the WSJ in April that his company believes companies “are going to need a lot of different generative AI models for different purposes.”
True enough. While the Big Tech names need no overview from me about their abilities and offerings, I did outline several emerging rivals to OpenAI that companies, marketers in particular, might want to consider as an alternatives:
Anthropic: Focusing on AI safety and scalability, Anthropic is emerging as a key player. Their commitment to ethical AI development makes them a valuable partner for brands prioritizing responsible AI use.
Hugging Face: Known for its open-source approach, Hugging Face fosters a collaborative AI development environment. This could be advantageous for companies seeking transparent and community-driven AI solutions.
Stability AI: With a focus on deep learning and neural networks, Stability AI offers innovative solutions in image and language processing, appealing to media companies looking for cutting-edge AI tools.
Runway: Runway is an applied AI research company shaping the next era of art, entertainment and human creativity.
Cohere: Cohere’s language models offer a range of applications from content generation to customer service automation, suitable for brands seeking versatile AI tools.
At this writing the week after a quiet Thanksgiving, it looks like OpenAI has stabilized itself. But trust in the leading generative artificial intelligence developer has been shaken.
Those established tech giants have a greater chance to reposition themselves against OpenAI. But the real leaps in value are likely to be at the startup level.
To read more about the shifting landscape around gen AI and OpenAi, check out the full post on my Substack, Beyond the Hype Cycle? And as always, let me know what alternative developers you’re considering or if your faith in OpenAI has been completely restored.
Greg Kahn
Emerging Tech Exchange
Founder & CEO
