Large Language Models (LLMs) have been on the verge of revolutionizing Artificial Intelligence (AI). In a recent interview, Dr. Xuedong Huang, Technical Specialist and Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft Azure AI, and Dr. Bui Hai Hung, CEO of VinAi, emphasized the importance of seizing opportunities. and understand the challenges AI presents, especially for languages with low resources.

A disparity in computational linguistics resources

Dr. Bui pointed out that “low-resource languages” are those spoken by half of the world’s population, but computational linguistics resources for these languages are not on par with those available for languages spoken in developed countries, such as English, some European languages, and some East Asian languages.

According to him, AI experts have historically prioritized well-resourced languages like English in their natural language understanding research. However, he stressed the significance of directing attention towards low-resource languages, such as Vietnamese, spoken by half of the world’s population.

Dr. Bui also recognized ChatGPT as a breakthrough in natural language understanding but noted that its support, accuracy, and performance for low-resource languages are not as great as for English. “The ChatGPT, even though it seems to support many languages more than just English, when you look deeper, the level of support and accuracy and how it performs when it comes to low-resource languages Is not as great as English. Try to see how it works for Vietnamese, we can clearly see the differences in terms of performance” Dr. Bui added.

Following its CEO’s vision, VinAI, one of the top 20 global companies leading in AI Research in 2022, is constantly recognized for its attempts to develop natural language understanding technologies for Vietnamese. The company was the first ever to release a large language model for Vietnamese, called PhoBERT. VinAi, in the words of Dr. Bui “plan to continue to build on that to see how we can push the large language model technology for Vietnamese and also for other SouthEast Asia languages and so on.”

Dawn of the Industrial Revolution

Dr. Xuedong Huang, the chair of the upcoming webinar “ChatGPT and Beyond,” expressed his excitement about the event, noting that it’s an excellent time to discuss the opportunities and challenges this amazing AI tool poses. “I think this is an exciting time for us to talk about the opportunities and challenges and what we should do with this amazing AI  tool. I will say that this is a tool we have for society, and how we can use the tool to really bring productivity to the next level. This is an ecosystem that we should nurture and educate,” he added.

Dr. Huang also acknowledged the challenges that come with large language models, saying, “It’s not as though a large language model is perfect. There are a lot of issues, and hallucination is one of the biggest concerns. The cost of serving is also huge. How can we get the data into the system so that it can really address those hallucinations, knowledge grounding, and cost-effectiveness in a way that remains our unsolved problem?”

“We’re just at the beginning of this industrial revolution. This is an active discussion and a learning opportunity for all of us. Nobody has a recipe that can be used broadly for everyone. We’re in the beginning, learning together as a community,” he said.

From virtual assistants to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way we live, work, and communicate. The VinFuture Foundation is back with another mind-blowing webinar! Join us for InnovaTalk 2023 as we bring together the biggest names in the industry from Microsoft, Google, and VinAI to explore the phenomenon that is ChatGPT and the future of AI.

The VinFuture Prize’s upcoming InnovaTalk webinar is not just for tech enthusiasts, but for anyone curious about the future of AI and its potential impact on our lives. Our expert panel, consisting of leading technology experts from well-known tech corps will share their knowledge and insights on ChatGPT and what lies beyond the horizon of AI.