GSR Ventures exec says no to LLMs, opts for market-ready AI products

Shanghai view / Photo credit: Pixabay

Allen Zhu, a seasoned investor and managing director for GSR Ventures, has adopted a distinct approach to AI in China, distancing himself from the Silicon Valley mindset.

In an interview with Tencent News, Zhu said his investment strategy in the AI space focuses on startups which are financially viable with low capital investment and whose products quickly fit the market. He stressed the importance of generating revenue and ensuring market viability, especially during economic uncertainty.

This is in contrast to a trend of more and more companies looking to make their own large language models (LLMs), a strategy that Zhu was skeptical about in terms of revenue generation.

Now his focus is on practical AI applications that can capitalize on China’s unique market and data landscape, rather than pursuing the elusive goal of artificial general intelligence (AGI) without immediate business use.

AGI is a type of AI that can match or even surpass humans in a wide variety of areas, as compared to narrow AI – which focuses on a specific tasks. The former is what OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is looking to achieve with its research and development efforts.

Highlighting the effectiveness of his no-LLM strategy, Zhu pointed to FancyTech, a company that he said has thrived by producing AI-generated video ads for China’s video-centric consumer base.

Zhu also weighed in on the debate over open-source versus proprietary AI models. He predicted that open-source models, which allow for broader access to AI tech, will eventually rival or even outperform proprietary models.

Seemingly at opposite ends of debate are OpenAI and Grok, Elon Musk’s AI firm. Musk recently said that Grok is planning to make its tech open-source, meaning anyone can access the Grok’s code and even contribute to its development.

Musk also recently took legal action against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, who co-founded the company alongside Musk. The Tesla CEO alleged that OpenAI has favored profit maximization instead of keeping its open-source ethos.

See also: The good, the bad, and the hallucinations: What SEA startups think of AI