The next phase in AI is interactive bots that can carry out tasks for you, says the cofounder of Google's AI division DeepMind

• "Generative AI is just a phase. What's next is interactive AI," said Mustafa Suleyman, the cofounder of Google DeepMind.
• "It's a very, very profound moment in the history of technology that I think many people underestimate," he added.
• Suleyman previously predicted that everyone would have AI assistants within five years.

Mustafa Suleyman, a cofounder of Google DeepMind, believes that "generative AI is just a phase" — an opinion he shared during an interview with MIT Technology Review published Friday.

"What's next is interactive AI: bots that can carry out tasks you set for them by calling on other software and other people to get stuff done," said Suleyman, who is currently a cofounder and CEO of a new AI startup, Inflection AI.

Suleyman said that interactive AI could be more dynamic and take actions on its own if given permission — in contrast to what he described as the "static" technology of today.

"It's a very, very profound moment in the history of technology that I think many people underestimate," he added.

Suleyman previously predicted that everyone will be able to have AI assistants within the next five years. His company, Inflection AI, launched its chatbot Pi as a rival to ChatGPT in May, focusing on personal advice and being conversational.

For context, we are currently seeing the rise 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 would enable developers to construct applications using AI models and integrate them with external data sources.

ChatGPT creator OpenAI also launched a Code Interpreter feature for its chatbot in July, leading Wharton professor Ethan Mollick to say it was "the strongest case yet for a future where AI is a valuable companion for sophisticated knowledge work."

Suleyman's comments come amid fears that the generative AI boom could be overhyped.

Web traffic towards ChatGPT's website fell for the third straight month in August, according to web analytics firm Similarweb.

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

Suleyman and Inflection AI did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.