Co-founder of Google’s AI division

• “Generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI,” said Mustafa Suleman, cofounder of Google DeepMind.
• “It’s a very profound moment in the history of technology that I think a lot of people underestimate,” he added.
• Suleiman previously predicted that everyone will have an AI assistant within five years.

Google DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleiman believes that “generative AI is just a phase” — a view he shared during an interview with MIT Technology Review published Friday.

“What’s next is interactive AI: bots that can call other software and other people to complete tasks you set for them,” said Suleman, who is currently the cofounder and CEO of Inflection AI, a fledgling AI startup.

Suleman said interactive AI could be more dynamic and act on its own if given permission — as opposed to today’s “static” technology.

“It’s a very profound moment in the history of technology that I think a lot of people underestimate,” he added.

Suleiman previously predicted that everyone could have an AI assistant within the next five years. His company, Inflection AI, launched chatbot Pi in May as a competitor to ChatGPT, focusing on personalized advice and conversation.

For context, we’re currently seeing the emergence of generative AI tools that go beyond the chat interface popularized by ChatGPT in November.

Investors told Insider in April that the next wave of AI startups will enable developers to build applications using AI models and integrate them with external data sources.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI also launched a code interpreter feature for its chatbot in July, which Wharton professor Ethan Mollick said is “the strongest case for a future where AI is a valuable companion for sophisticated knowledge work.”

Suleman’s comments come amid fears that the generative AI boom could be overblown.

Web traffic to ChatGPT’s website declined for the third month in a row in August, according to web analytics firm SimilarWeb.

And investors told the Wall Street Journal in August that translating AI buzz into impactful businesses is harder than it looks — with generative AI tools Jasper and Synthesia showing flat or declining user growth.

Suleiman and Inflection AI did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.