Less than a week after UBS proclaimed ChatGPT a record-setter for the app with the fastest-growing user base, the popular AI chatbot has racked up accomplishments that include passing “a U.S. medical-licensing exam, a Wharton Business School MBA exam, and four major university law-school exams,” according to TIME, which couches it in the context of “a brilliant child.” Amidst the fusillade of publicity, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, who led the teams behind both DALL-E and ChatGPT, says it’s “time to move toward regulating AI,” which “can be misused, or used by bad actors,” raising questions about global governance.

“How do you govern the use of AI in a way that’s aligned with human values?” Murati asked rhetorically in an incisive interview with TIME. While Murati says it’s important for commercial entities like OpenAI and other companies to exercise discretion and control about how AI is introduced to, and eventually used by, the public, she sees the need for more input, including from regulators and governments.

“It’s not too early. It’s very important for everyone to start getting involved, given the impact these technologies are going to have,” Murati tells TIME.

Calling this “a unique moment in time where we do have agency in how [AI] shapes society,” Murati cautions that “it goes both ways: the technology shapes us and we shape it.”

Foremost among the ethical and philosophical challenges to be addressed are ensuring AI is aligned with human intention and remains of service. In vetting those issues, “it’s important that we bring in different voices, like philosophers, social scientists, artists, and people from the humanities,” Murati said.

The viral interest in ChatGPT indicates there are plenty of people sampling it. Yahoo News offers a chart based on investment bank UBS’ research showing the AI chatbot is on track to pass the 100 million monthly user mark in a mere two months, far outpacing prior record-holder TikTok, at 9 months.

With 375 employees, the 8-year-old San Francisco-based OpenAI has so far produced inconsequential revenue but thanks to a $10 billion investment by Microsoft has a valuation of $30 billion, sending several firms chasing its success, according to Bloomberg.

In addition to established player Google — which has BERT, Code Whisperer, and now Bard, among other AI apps — Bloomberg cites 150 startups in the sector including China’s Baidu and the UK-based Stability AI, now an elder statesman at 4-years-old.

Among the newer entries: 2-year-old Anthropic (which just got an investment from Google) with Claude, Israel’s AI21 Labs and its GPT-3 rival Jurassic, and Cohere, in talks to raise funding that would give it a valuation exceeding $6 billion. And TechCrunch writes that “Q&A platform Quora has opened up public access to its new AI chatbot app, Poe.”

Related:
Why Did Google’s ChatGPT Rival Go Wrong and Are AI Chatbots Overhyped?, The Guardian, 2/9/23
OpenAI’s ‘Next-Generation’ AI Model Is Behind Microsoft’s New Search, TechCrunch, 2/7/23
Google Follows Microsoft in Unveiling AI Search Features, The Wall Street Journal, 2/8/23
Google’s Bard Chatbot Confidently Spouts Misinformation in Twitter Debut, Engadget, 2/8/23
Google and Microsoft Announce AI-Based Search Functions, ETCentric, 2/8/23