Given how bad the Benz Patent-Motorwagen was, I think the DIY/"open source" LLMs would count as equivalents of that, and that OpenAI, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney (especially given their popularity and economic disruptiveness to buggy whip manufacturers/artists) are equivalents of the Model-T. Cars have become more efficient, comfortable and safe since then, but the utility is similar.
But I also think cars are a terrible analogy. Internal combustion engines collectively are probably more apt, and for that case: OpenAI's various models may well be the 1776 Watt steam engine — a basic useful tool that displaces manual labor, which has a direct influence in its own right, but which would also see categorical replacement several times over.
> Given how bad the Benz Patent-Motorwagen was, I think the DIY/"open source" LLMs would count as equivalents of that, and that OpenAI, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney (especially given their popularity and economic disruptiveness to buggy whip manufacturers/artists) are equivalents of the Model-T
It's difficult to put things on a scale when you don't know what the end outcome will be. There was over 20 years between the Benz Patent-Motorwagen and the Ford Model T.
I think the AI equivalent of the Model T won't be available for 5 - 10 years but it will follow some of the notes of the Model T (Mass Produced, lower cost of ownership, Changes most other industries, mass customisation, etc)
But I also think cars are a terrible analogy. Internal combustion engines collectively are probably more apt, and for that case: OpenAI's various models may well be the 1776 Watt steam engine — a basic useful tool that displaces manual labor, which has a direct influence in its own right, but which would also see categorical replacement several times over.