Rob Evans writing in “The Collaboration Code”:

Practical innovations almost always proceed by recombining and extending what already exists.

This insight, though certainly not new, is often underestimated or even forgotten.

One can not stop to think that the criticism of AI systems built on large language models (LLMs), such as GPT, comparing these systems to stochastic parrots, have — at their heart — the very idea that they gain their powers from the recombination of what already exists. Looking at recent developments, such as LLM-powered bots and plugins, one can see the second component of Evans’s observation fall into place.

I would be surprised if we don’t see much practical innovation from these systems (current and undoubtedly future generations).