Just Leaked from Google: “We have no Moat, and Neither Does OpenAI”

I found this post through Simon Willison who writes some really amazing pieces on Artificial Intelligence. He got this from another source as well, you can go read the original post at SemiAnalysis if you want: Google “We Have No Moat, And Neither Does OpenAI”; However, I’m going to touch on some pertinent thoughts about this that are pretty exciting.

I first learned of this leaked Google document, through Simon Willison’s blog. The original leaked document can be read here: “We Have No Moat, And Neither Does OpenAI,” on SemiAnalysis a substack. The leak has shed light on the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, as open source language models increasingly challenge the dominance of tech giants like Google and OpenAI. This article explores the key revelations from the leaked document and their potential impact on the AI industry.

This disclaimer on SemiAnalysis reads:

The text below is a very recent leaked document, which was shared by an anonymous individual on a public Discord server who has granted permission for its republication. It originates from a researcher within Google. We have verified its authenticity. The only modifications are formatting and removing links to internal web pages. The document is only the opinion of a Google employee, not the entire firm. We do not agree with what is written below, nor do other researchers we asked, but we will publish our opinions on this in a separate piece for subscribers. We simply are a vessel to share this document which raises some very interesting points.

I’m just going to briefly touch on some key parts of the Google leak:

The Quiet Revolution of Open Source Language Models:

While Google and OpenAI have been racing to develop the most powerful large language models (LLMs), the leaked document highlights the impressive progress of open source models in the same space. The author writes:

We’ve done a lot of looking over our shoulders at OpenAI. Who will cross the next milestone? What will the next move be?

But the uncomfortable truth is, we aren’t positioned to win this arms race and neither is OpenAI. While we’ve been squabbling, a third faction has been quietly eating our lunch.

I’m talking, of course, about open source. Plainly put, they are lapping us. Things we consider “major open problems” are…