Soon, Kids Would be Building GPT-2 in Schools
AI is taking over coding jobs. When we say this, we don’t mean AI is coding better than people, it’s just that everyone is coding to build AI models. To a point that much of the other research is subsided, with generative AI at the forefront. People are so proficient with LLMs that they don’t even remember GPT-2 being touted as an equally existentially risky piece of technology back in 2019 as GPT-5 is believed to be today, something that even OpenAI had warned about. Now, almost every coder wants to build a GPT-2 like model in their basement, and probably start hiding GPUs in the cellar. Now, what would happen if kids in schools started building GPT-2 like models as fun projects? This is bound to happen, like with any other technological innovation. Schools are beginning to integrate AI into their curricula, teaching students not just how to use AI tools, but also how to build them from scratch. Remember when GPT-2 was deemed too dangerous to release?That was 5 years ago.The world didn't end.In fact nothing bad happened.[Yes, I made fun of them then] https://t.co/7V2MHyxnYr— Yann LeCun (@ylecun) January 30, 2024 In the 2023 earnings call, NVIDIA chief Jensen Huang noted that everyone would be able to code, “you just have to say something to the computer”. Without learning how to code, even kids can do it with the help of low-code or no-code platforms. For example, many of the current Indian language models such as Kannada Llama, or MalayaLLM, or Telugu Llama, have been created by college students, still in the second-year of their degree course. Without undermining their achievements, it is essential to note that the barrier to entry for training these models has become increasingly low. Not much doomsy Let’s take you back to the hysteria surrounding GPT-2 back in 2019, when headlines screamed about the potential dangers of releasing such a powerful language model into the wild? The Independent ran an article warning about the risks, citing concerns from experts about the potential for misinformation, propaganda, and even the manipulation of entire populations. Fast forward to today, and it seems those fears were largely unfounded. But now, people have expressed similar fears about GPT-4 and the forthcoming OpenAI model. In the past five years, GPT-2 and similar models have not brought about the apocalypse that some predicted. Instead, they’ve become tools for innovation and creativity, empowering individuals. Sure, there have been instances of misuse and abuse, but on the whole, the benefits have outweighed the risks. Speaking with AIM, researchers and professors from premiere institutions such as IIT Bombay, IIT Patna, and IIT Madras, highlighted that teaching kids about AI, and including it in the school curriculum has become a need of the hour. That is probably also important to remove the fear of jobs being replaced by AI. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has already introduced AI as an elective subject in Classes 9 and 11 for affiliated schools. The NISHTHA and Integrated Teacher Education (ITEP) program is teaching educators to fulfill this requirement within students. They have even introduced coding subjects, including AI, starting from Class 8. The fear of the unknown is ever-present, but so is the excitement of what’s to come Remember the days when computer classes in school meant creating pixelated masterpieces in Microsoft Paint or mastering the art of transitions in PowerPoint? Now, imagine a classroom where kids are crafting their own GPT-2 or their own foundational models instead of crafting presentations. It’s a nostalgic shift from the days of HTML and Java lessons. There are already platforms and resources freely available that make it possible for students to experiment with AI in a controlled and educational environment. Andrew Ng’s courses are making AI accessible for most of the students in schools. Moreover, prompt engineering is also making it easier for people to learn how to code, or in fact code without learning how to code. It is an overstatement to say that everyone would do it, but Andrej Karpathy’s demo of building an LLM in just a single day gives hope to many. Another thing to remember is that GPT-2 was one of the most-prominent open source models released by OpenAI, which was used by several companies internally, and for customer facing products as well. Now with small and open source models such as LLaMA, Mistral, and several others coming up, it might be easier for kids to deploy models on their laptops, without the need for expensive GPUs. It might sound far-fetched for now, but given the rapid pace of advancement, it’s definitely not as outlandish as it seems. OpenAI is also partnering with educational institutions to teach about ChatGPT and LLMs. Who knows, the next step may be to introduce LLMs such as GPT-2 in their course work, and that might be built using the open source community. All this could lead to AI startups mushrooming from schools, instead of the universities!
Instead of Java, HTML, or PowerPoint Presentations.
CBSE has already introduced AI as an elective subject in classes 9 and 11 for affiliated schools, and coding starting from class 8.
["AI in school", "ChatGPT", "prompt engineering"]
["Go", "ChatGPT", "GPT-5", "AI", "OpenAI", "ML", "prompt engineering", "Aim", "generative AI", "AI in school", "R"]
["AI", "ML", "generative AI", "GPT-5", "ChatGPT", "OpenAI", "Aim", "prompt engineering", "R", "Go"]
Mohit writes about AI in simple, explainable, and often funny words. He's especially passionate about chatting with those building AI for Bharat, with the occasional detour into AGI.