The Sprint to Stymie OpenAI’s Data-Munching Bots Enters the Leisurely Jog Phase

“The Race to Block OpenAI’s Scraping Bots Is Slowing Down”

“OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research lab partially funded by Elon Musk, incorporated as a for-profit this year after establishing itself as a non-profit. OpenAI’s pivot to for-profit was unsettling to some observers. Now, the company is putting its pay-as-you-go image recognition software to work on a new project: scraping the web for training data to sell.”

The generosity of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research lab partly backed by Elon Musk, in deciding to turn from a non-profit entity into a for-profit one is somehow staggering. How noble of them, indeed! In the past, they diligently spent their days working on non-profit projects, but recently they’ve decided it’s time to milk the cow. Their image recognition software, previously available on a pay-as-you-go basis, has been tasked with a new project. The objective? To scrape from the internet for training data that can be packaged and sold at premium prices.

Isn’t it poetic? Here we have an organization, partly funded by the overlord of tech innovation, taking the benign World Wide Web and repurposing it into a marketable commodity. The line between philanthropy and capitalism has never been so blurred.

Indeed, OpenAI’s move from a non-profit to a for-profit entity has triggered emotions similar to a five-tiered wedding cake being dropped right before the first slice. Uncertainties are swimming in the sea of tech observers, who are concerned about what this development might mean for the future of AI.

And true to form, this for-profit conversion isn’t a demure turn, executed with the stealth of a ballet dancer. Rather, the organization has bombarded the news with this mega-announcement about their pay-as-you-go image recognition software’s new assignment. From a mellow non-profit mission to a “scrap the web and make some money” venture – isn’t it a sweet evolution?

But let’s not jump the gun here. It’s undoubtedly hard work scraping the internet, training artificial intelligence and marketing it for a price. There’s an inescapable beauty about using intelligence – artificial or not – and converting it into a sellable product. Despite the sarcasm, there’s a part of us that honestly admires the cheek of it.

So, cheers to OpenAI, a research lab with a meticulous inclination towards innovation and an uncompromising passion for commoditizing artificial intelligence!

Read the original article here: https://www.wired.com/story/open-ai-publisher-deals-scraping-bots/