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Technology

A riveting exploration of how AI models like ChatGPT changed the world

Supremacy, a new book from tech journalist Parmy Olson, takes us inside the rise of machine learning and AI, and examines the people behind it

By Alex Wilkins

11 September 2024

A view shows banners at Tel Aviv University campus as Sam Altman, CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI and ChatGPT creator is due to speak in Tel Aviv, Israel June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RC2XC1AOM2OY

Tel Aviv University before a talk from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in June 2023

REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Supremacy
Parmy Olson (Macmillan Business (UK); St Martin’s Press (US))

For most people, ChatGPT appeared to materalise out of thin air. Within weeks of OpenAI’s quiet launch of the AI chatbot, it had become the fastest-growing app of all time and, almost two years later, it is nearly as well known as Google or Facebook. In the meantime, companies worldwide have gone gaga for the technology, with little time to pause to consider the wider societal consequences. So how did we get here and who was responsible?…

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