Large AI models can now create smaller AI tools without humans and train them like a 'big brother,' scientists say

• Large language models like ChatGPT are at the more advanced end of the AI spectrum.
• But smaller AI that perform just one task could also make major changes to our daily lives.

Large AI models are now powerful enough to create new, small AI tools without any human help.

A team of scientists from MIT and several University of California campuses, together with AI technology company Aizip, say that they can get large AI models, like the one that ChatGPT runs on, to essentially replicate automatically.

"Right now, we're using bigger models to build the smaller models, like a bigger brother helping [its smaller] brother to improve. That's the first step towards a bigger job of self-evolving AI," Yan Sun, CEO of Aizip, told Fox News. "This is the first step in the path to show that AI models can build AI models."

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"Our technology is a breakthrough in the sense that for the first time, we have designed a fully automated pipeline," one of the researchers, Yubei Chen, added. It "can design an AI model without human intervention in the process."

While large language models like ChatGPT cost a reported $700,000 a day to run, small AI models — often referred to as tiny machine learning or TinyML — can run at a low cost and can be carried around on devices.

TinyML can be used for specific tasks in anything from facial recognition to hearing aid devices and home appliances.

"We are working on really specific tasks, the very very low-cost solutions that can be used in every corner of the world," Sun said.

"We are bringing the intelligence into the daily life, making life safer," he added.

The team is focused on creating these tiny AIs but says that the design process can now automatically be done by more intelligent AI.

"In the future we believe that the large and the small will collaborate and build a complete intelligence eco-system," Chen said.

Microsoft, which is partnered with OpenAI, has recently drawn attention to its own small but powerful AI models that it says could rival ChatGPT.

Aizip did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment, which was made outside of normal working hours.