In late 2022, Microsoft’s launch of deep learning technology, ChatGPT, was released to the public and took the internet by storm. In just six months of its groundbreaking introduction, ChatGPT saw 3.86 million downloads across the U.S. market.
One month later, downloads more than tripled. In November 2023, ChatGPT downloads reached over 20 million.
The steady increase in want and need to understand artificial intelligence and machine learning has caused both fear and excitement in technology users across the nation.
In 2023, AI start-ups raised nearly $50 billion, according to Crunchbase. In January 2023 alone, OpenAI raised $10 billion to continue evolving and reshaping generative AI products, including ChatGPT and DALL-E, an image and art generator that uses natural language processing to produce styles.
Additionally, while publicly owned companies like Microsoft and privately owned companies like xAI are working to understand the true nature of the universe, other start-ups, like Baxus, are looking to understand a smaller but exciting class of people – alcohol drinkers.
"I just got so excited about how many opportunities there are in the alcohol space," Carrie Kellar, co-founder and CTO of Baxus, told FOX Business. Baxus is a digital marketplace dedicated to peer-to-peer wine and spirits trading. "There is so much that women can bring to this industry. Women are a massive consumer in this space. Women are using tech, and they like alcohol as well."
Baxus uses blockchain technology that provides users with a fairly priced way to access proof of ownership, authentication and safe storage of their bottles.
"We’re not trying to create an application that only technical people can use," Kellar said. "It’s very normal and Facebook or eBay-like. We’re delivering this very manageable experience."
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Kellar is a graduate of Columbia University. She specializes in machine learning and AI and has previously worked in finance and software engineering. She met her co-founder, Tzvi Wiesel, when she acted as head TA for a database course at Columbia.
"I love my job," Kellar said. "It’s just so much fun to be on the cutting edge. You’re always evolving, always changing, always trying to keep up with what’s new. It’s such a big challenge and problem that you can never get bored."
Recently, Baxus came across two bottles of alcohol selling for $93,000 and $110,000, respectively.
"When I first got into this space, and I first started learning about whiskey, I didn’t understand," Kellar said. "And now I understand. There’s a piece of history that’s time locked in this bottle. There’s never going to be another one like it."
