Dave Davies

You know, the account that you give us in the book is pretty detailed and really interesting about how all this unfolded. One of the things that struck me is that some of the leading players in developing AI weren't just coders or computer nerds. A lot of them studied classics or philosophy or worked in completely unrelated fields. Is there a connection here?

It's difficult.

It's difficult.

It's difficult.

I'm going to take another break here. We are speaking with Gary Rivlin. He's a veteran investigative reporter. His new book is AI Valley, Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion Dollar Race to Cash in on Artificial Intelligence. He'll be back to talk more after a short break. I'm Dave Davies, and this is Fresh Air.

I'm going to take another break here. We are speaking with Gary Rivlin. He's a veteran investigative reporter. His new book is AI Valley, Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion Dollar Race to Cash in on Artificial Intelligence. He'll be back to talk more after a short break. I'm Dave Davies, and this is Fresh Air.

I'm going to take another break here. We are speaking with Gary Rivlin. He's a veteran investigative reporter. His new book is AI Valley, Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion Dollar Race to Cash in on Artificial Intelligence. He'll be back to talk more after a short break. I'm Dave Davies, and this is Fresh Air.

You made the point earlier that it's enormously expensive to develop AI. I mean the talent is high-priced and it takes tons and tons of computing power to develop the systems, to run them once you have them, which means not a couple three million dollars but hundreds of millions in some cases or more, which means that the big companies in tech – Microsoft, Google, Meta, we all know the names –

You made the point earlier that it's enormously expensive to develop AI. I mean the talent is high-priced and it takes tons and tons of computing power to develop the systems, to run them once you have them, which means not a couple three million dollars but hundreds of millions in some cases or more, which means that the big companies in tech – Microsoft, Google, Meta, we all know the names –

You made the point earlier that it's enormously expensive to develop AI. I mean the talent is high-priced and it takes tons and tons of computing power to develop the systems, to run them once you have them, which means not a couple three million dollars but hundreds of millions in some cases or more, which means that the big companies in tech – Microsoft, Google, Meta, we all know the names –

have an edge but it's interesting as I read your story that doesn't that's no guarantee of success is it sometimes it's kind of an obstacle having a big organization you know it's interesting let's use the example of Google let's give Google credit first they were so far ahead of almost everyone else

have an edge but it's interesting as I read your story that doesn't that's no guarantee of success is it sometimes it's kind of an obstacle having a big organization you know it's interesting let's use the example of Google let's give Google credit first they were so far ahead of almost everyone else

have an edge but it's interesting as I read your story that doesn't that's no guarantee of success is it sometimes it's kind of an obstacle having a big organization you know it's interesting let's use the example of Google let's give Google credit first they were so far ahead of almost everyone else

Right, right. And so a lot of times you see the big companies buying smaller startups that have shown promise. It's interesting that this company called OpenAI kind of became the public face of artificial intelligence in a way. It was A startup that didn't have the power of a Microsoft or a Google behind it. It was this guy, Sam Altman and some other folks. Elon Musk.

Right, right. And so a lot of times you see the big companies buying smaller startups that have shown promise. It's interesting that this company called OpenAI kind of became the public face of artificial intelligence in a way. It was A startup that didn't have the power of a Microsoft or a Google behind it. It was this guy, Sam Altman and some other folks. Elon Musk.

Right, right. And so a lot of times you see the big companies buying smaller startups that have shown promise. It's interesting that this company called OpenAI kind of became the public face of artificial intelligence in a way. It was A startup that didn't have the power of a Microsoft or a Google behind it. It was this guy, Sam Altman and some other folks. Elon Musk.

Yeah, Elon Musk among others, right, right. And there's a moment that was sort of a critical transformational point. when they released this version of ChatGPT. But that was preceded by a dinner at Bill Gates House, which you described, which the house being as absolutely as magnificent as you would expect Bill Gates House to be. Tell us about that evening. What happened?

Yeah, Elon Musk among others, right, right. And there's a moment that was sort of a critical transformational point. when they released this version of ChatGPT. But that was preceded by a dinner at Bill Gates House, which you described, which the house being as absolutely as magnificent as you would expect Bill Gates House to be. Tell us about that evening. What happened?

Yeah, Elon Musk among others, right, right. And there's a moment that was sort of a critical transformational point. when they released this version of ChatGPT. But that was preceded by a dinner at Bill Gates House, which you described, which the house being as absolutely as magnificent as you would expect Bill Gates House to be. Tell us about that evening. What happened?

We're going to take another break here. Let me reintroduce you. We are speaking with Gary Rivlin. He's a veteran investigative reporter. His new book is AI Valley, Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion Dollar Race to Cash in on Artificial Intelligence. We'll be back to talk more in just a moment. This is Rush Air.