Published Date:
December 17, 2024

OpenAI Cofounder Ilya Sutskever: "We've Hit Peak Data." What's Next for AI?

OpenAI Co-Founder and Former Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever suggests AI will evolve in these three key ways. Also this week, OpenAI's Shipmas summary, big launches from Google, and more.
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What if every student—and every professional—had their own AI tutor or coach?

OpenAI’s Shipmas has been buzzing with feature-packed updates, and one that truly stood out to me? ChatGPT’s Voice Mode is now paired with Vision.

Last week, I ran a training session for an education group, and we had an electric discussion imagining this future. Sam Altman once ​said​ AI could make personalized, adaptive, and always available coaches a reality. Now, his AI can combine text, voice, and visual understanding, making that vision feel closer than ever.

I also spoke with Alex Osterwalder (inventor of the business model canvas), who sees the same potential in companies. L&D could transform dramatically as these capabilities evolve over the next few years.

The real question: How do we get there—and how should we prepare?

That aside, here’s my executive brief from a blockbuster week of AI launches, with news and inspiration to help you apply AI in your work, team, and organization:

  • “Your AI Team” Updates: OpenAI’s Day 5 to 8 Updates, NotebookLM Upgrade & Plus Tier, Claude Latest Model, and Gemini New Agentic Tools.
  • AI Implementation Case Study: Puma Boosts Product Imagery with Google Cloud AI
  • The Executive AI Brief: Ilya Sutskever: “We’ve Hit Peak Data” - What’s Next for AI?
  • Weekly Quick Hits: Replit’s Powerful New Tools, Telegram’s AI Cleanup, Midjourney’s Patchwork, and more.

And other interesting sharings from our ​Lead with AI PRO​ community.

ChatGPT

OpenAI dropped five practical updates last week through its ​advent calendar​:

  • ​Canvas Expansion​: All users can now access Canvas, a workspace for editing text, code, and graphics with GPT-4o. It runs Python, previews charts, and debugs errors seamlessly.
  • ​ChatGPT + Siri​: ChatGPT is now integrated into Apple’s Siri (via Apple Intelligence) for tasks like answering questions, analyzing images, and querying documents on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
  • ​Advanced Voice Mode with Vision​: Plus, Team, and Pro users can combine voice, image, and video inputs on mobile. Show your surroundings, analyze photos, get recipes, and use Screenshare for troubleshooting.
  • ​'Projects' Feature​: Organize chats, files, and instructions with “Projects.” It remembers context, reduces repetitive prompts, and enables Canvas.
  • ​'Search' Updates:​ Faster results, voice queries in Advanced Voice Mode, and integrated maps for location-based searches—now available globally, including free-tier accounts.

NotebookLM

Google ​upgraded​ NotebookLM with:

  • Interactive Audio Overviews: Ask ‘AI hosts’ questions mid-listen, like having a real-time tutor guiding your content.
  • Unified Interface: Manage sources, chat, and outputs in a sleek, three-panel layout.

Google also announced ​NotebookLM Plus​, a premium tier launching in early 2025 via ​Google One AI Premium​, offering 5x capacity, team notebooks, and enterprise privacy.

Claude

Anthropic’s fastest and most cost-effective model, Claude 3.5 Haiku, is now on web and mobile. It excels at coding, data analysis, and real-time tasks with a 200K-token capacity but still lacks live web browsing.

Gemini

Google unveiled major model updates:

  • ​Deep Research​: Automates multi-step web research for organized, source-linked reports. It’s available in Gemini Advanced and is suggested for competitor analysis, academic work, or strategic benchmarking.
  • ​Gemini 2.0 Flash​: An early preview of Google’s fastest, chat-optimized AI model that delivers twice the speed and advanced multimodal capabilities for analysts. (​VentureBeat review​)
  • ​AI Code Agent "Jules,"​ powered by Gemini 2.0, helps fix bugs in Python and JavaScript code on GitHub. The new tool from Google differentiates itself by actually planning and carrying out multi-step solutions, updating multiple files at once, and preparing the final changes for review.

Google also showcased two experimental AI agents for everyday tasks:

  • ​Project Astra​: A virtual assistant with real-time multimodal capabilities, short-term memory, and integration into Search, Lens, and Maps.
  • ​Project Mariner​: A browser-based tool for hands-free workflows with tasks like building shopping lists.
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No matter your company size, if you deal with product photos, take a page from Puma's book.

Puma partnered with Google for a built-in AI tool to create dynamic, localized product images on their website. A single click generates AI-powered visuals, which can be easily customized for local markets—like featuring Mt. Fuji for Japan.

As a result, Puma saves time, delivers high-quality visuals at scale, and improves the shopping experience. Puma India, for example, saw a 10% increase in click-through rates.

​>> Watch how they do it here.

“We’ve Hit Peak Data” - What’s Next for AI?

At NeurIPS 2024, OpenAI Co-Founder and Former Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever made a bold ​claim​: “We’ve achieved peak data, and there’ll be no more.” In short, the internet’s finite training data is running out, forcing a major shift in AI development.

Sutskever predicts AI will evolve in three key ways:

  • Agentic AI: AI that acts independently, anticipating tasks, adapting to workflows, and solving problems without constant direction.
  • Synthetic Data: Artificially generated data will enable more precise simulations and specialized training.
  • True Reasoning: AI will develop logical, step-by-step thinking, minimizing errors and delivering more reliable results.

​>> Watch TheAIGRID’s breakdown of Sutskever’s predictions here.​

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Quick Hits

  • Replit shipped a new Agent for no-code software creation and an Assistant for seamless project refinements, making development faster, easier, and fully accessible. (​Read and watch demos here​)
  • Telegram ​removed​ 15.4 million suspect groups and channels in 2024 using advanced AI moderation after unprecedented pressure following founder Pavel Durov’s arrest in France.
  • Midjourney is launching Patchwork - think Figma, but for collaborative ‘worldbuilding.’ It enables real-time storytelling, character creation, and interactive canvases for up to 100 users. (​Try it here​ with ​tutorials here​)
  • Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban ​says​ AI will disrupt jobs with simple decisions but will require humans to guide it in roles that demand critical thinking.
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Daan van Rossum - Lead with AI

Daan van Rossum​

Host, Lead with AI

What if every student—and every professional—had their own AI tutor or coach?

OpenAI’s Shipmas has been buzzing with feature-packed updates, and one that truly stood out to me? ChatGPT’s Voice Mode is now paired with Vision.

Last week, I ran a training session for an education group, and we had an electric discussion imagining this future. Sam Altman once ​said​ AI could make personalized, adaptive, and always available coaches a reality. Now, his AI can combine text, voice, and visual understanding, making that vision feel closer than ever.

I also spoke with Alex Osterwalder (inventor of the business model canvas), who sees the same potential in companies. L&D could transform dramatically as these capabilities evolve over the next few years.

The real question: How do we get there—and how should we prepare?

That aside, here’s my executive brief from a blockbuster week of AI launches, with news and inspiration to help you apply AI in your work, team, and organization:

  • “Your AI Team” Updates: OpenAI’s Day 5 to 8 Updates, NotebookLM Upgrade & Plus Tier, Claude Latest Model, and Gemini New Agentic Tools.
  • AI Implementation Case Study: Puma Boosts Product Imagery with Google Cloud AI
  • The Executive AI Brief: Ilya Sutskever: “We’ve Hit Peak Data” - What’s Next for AI?
  • Weekly Quick Hits: Replit’s Powerful New Tools, Telegram’s AI Cleanup, Midjourney’s Patchwork, and more.

And other interesting sharings from our ​Lead with AI PRO​ community.