What is Multimodal AI?
Multimodal AI — AI systems capable of processing and generating multiple types of data simultaneously, such as text, images, and audio.
Multimodal models process text, images, audio, and video simultaneously. GPT-4V can analyze photographs, Claude can read PDFs, and Gemini can process video. This enables applications like visual question answering, document understanding, and video analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can multimodal AI do that text-only models cannot?
Analyze images, read handwritten documents, interpret charts and diagrams, process audio transcriptions, and understand video content — all while combining visual and textual reasoning.
Which multimodal models are available?
GPT-4V, Claude 3 (Opus/Sonnet), Gemini Pro Vision, and open-source models like LLaVA. Each has different strengths for image, document, and video understanding.
Is multimodal AI more expensive?
Yes. Processing images and video requires more compute than text alone. Image inputs typically cost 2-10x more per request than equivalent text inputs.