The half-life for technological leaps in innovation is sometimes quite short.
At least that was the impression that visitors to the World Economic Forum in Davos got this week.
Many companies had come up with demonstrations around the metaverse for the elite meeting in the mountains.
Not only did the Facebook parent company Meta invite guests on a digital journey to mountains and beaches, but elsewhere you could also take part in virtual office meetings or visit distant cities.
When the show in the Swiss Alps was being planned, nobody could have guessed who the real star of the event would be: ChatGPT, the software that takes artificial intelligence (AI) applications to a whole new level and is accessible to a wide range of people power.
There was hardly a conversation
Sven Astheimer
Responsible editor for corporate reporting.
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Alexander Armbruster
Responsible editor for business online.
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Roland Lindner
Business correspondent in New York.
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What's behind it?
It's been less than two months since the software from the American company Open AI came out.
The hype surrounding them has become so great that their arrival is often seen as a monumental event in the technology industry, much like Google's search engine or Apple's iPhone.
ChatGPT is a so-called chatbot that uses AI to answer all sorts of queries, and it does so with amazing quality and eloquence similar to a conversation with a human.
The software is like a digital all-purpose weapon.
She writes love letters as well as programming code, she writes poems and even entire screenplays, she proposes marketing campaigns, and anyone who wants can also get relationship tips from her.
Important topic also in Davos
Open AI is now suddenly the company of the hour.
And questions are being raised as to whether ChatGPT and similar programs could fundamentally change the way people use the Internet, thereby shaking entrenched power structures in the technology industry.
They are credited with becoming a threat to traditional search engines like Google.
You may have dark sides.
They could make things easier for hackers, and Open AI researchers themselves concluded in a study that they could be a useful tool for propaganda.
Many teachers and university professors are downright alarmed.
They fear the software could be used to cheat.
The world is torn as to whether software like ChatGPT is an opportunity or a risk.
Christina Raab, who is responsible for the German-speaking area for the consulting firm Accenture, said in Davos: "ChatGPT will completely revolutionize search and knowledge management, it will lead to the automation of knowledge work." If the program, which is already able to write essays and even program them , in the foreseeable future might also be able to develop a protein with certain properties independently on command, one will have to talk about what creativity and intelligence actually mean.
Nevertheless, Raab does not want to stir up fear of the still young technology, on the contrary.
"I see this as an opportunity to refocus on innovative companies."
Gold rush sentiment has broken out among investors.
Artificial intelligence is one of the few areas that seems to be spared from the current misery in the technology industry.
While corporations like Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet are announcing large-scale layoffs and venture capital firms are reluctant to invest, AI specialists are expanding and have little trouble finding financiers.