In this insightful talk, Sam Altman emphasises that only a few companies are likely to have the resources to build and maintain Large Language Models (LLMs) such as GPT-3. However, he foresees the emergence of many “layer two” companies with valuations in excess of a billion dollars over the next decade.

“Layer two” is referring to companies built on top of fine-tuned base models that unlock efficiency and progress in domain-specific industries. This way you could develop industry-specific solutions based on master data on legal, procedures, specifications, etc.

Hay un depósito de valor en el ‘finetuneo’ de modelos GPT para servir de asistentes personales, con barreras de entrada imposibles de automatizar porque requieren de relaciones humanas.

The reality remains that the public debate and hype is predominantly about layer one models. However, it is at layer two that the real value is created for businesses.

It is interesting how all this somehow mirrors what happened decades ago with ERP platforms and their associated developer and implementation ecosystems and niche solutions.