What sparked the recent surge in AI popularity and technology?

I think a lot of the recent hype comes from how accessible tools like ChatGPT are to the average person, making it feel more tangible. But, let’s be real; there are significant concerns about legality and ethics that aren’t being adequately addressed. There's a lot of pressure on companies to adopt AI, which can lead to irresponsible practices that might backfire later.

The hype around AI isn't entirely new; it's been floating around for decades. Modern machine learning has its roots in the 1950s, but things started to heat up recently for a couple of reasons. First, creating large language models requires an incredible amount of data – something that just became available as companies figured out they could scrape vast amounts from the internet. Also, with more powerful computing resources and less ethical scrutiny, they could push boundaries that were previously constrained.

AI has been around since the 1950s, but it hit a snag in the '60s because early systems could only handle logical deductions, which didn’t scale well. It wasn’t until the ’90s and early 2000s that more practical applications started to emerge, like predictive text and search algorithms. Generative AI started showing potential a while back, but it really needed the right computing power and data to reach its potential.

You’re right to think there’s been a shift. While AI has been developing since the 1950s, it really lagged due to computing limitations. The real game-changer came with advancements in accessing large datasets and GPU technology, which allows for complex neural networks to operate efficiently. This, along with the 2017 paper on transformer networks, laid the groundwork for the current AI boom.