AGI
It ' s the most existential debate and challenge humanity will ever face . This is bigger than climate change , way bigger than Covid … This will redefine the way the world is , in unprecedented shapes and forms , within the next few years . This is imminent . We ' re not talking 2040 . We ' re talking 2025 , 2026 .”
This is the declaration sweeping the internet , made by former Google X Chief Business Officer and AI expert , Mo Gawdat , when he appeared on entrepreneur Steven Bartlett ’ s podcast , ‘ Diary of a CEO ’.
Google X ( now , just ‘ X ’) is a semi-secretive R & D facility founded by Google in 2010 . Its mission : Invent " moonshot " tech for radical global impact .
Gawdat ’ s tone , although composed , is also acutely inflected towards the pitch of undeniable urgency around the state of AI ; and the pressing need for immediate action to somehow regulate it .
Joining hundreds of voices ; voices of AI heavy-hitters who recently signed the Centre for AI Safety ( CAIS ) statement of risk calling for immediate intervention , Gawdat expresses in no uncertain terms that the situation is momentous , potentially perilous and historically unparalleled .
The world as we know it is on the cusp of a transformation - and a proper one - that , from where we stand , we can ’ t even begin to imagine the consequences of .
From artificially ‘ narrow ’ to Artificial General Intelligence ( AGI ): The emergent power of computation What needs to be understood is that the potential threat doesn ’ t come from ‘ narrow ’ AI ; it comes from AI with general , or
A member of the X Everyday Robot Project team assembling a prototype
generalisable capabilities , and the apparent speed at which we are moving towards this , has almost everyone in a state of panic .
But Gawdat expresses that despite the immensity of the threat - or implicitly perhaps because of it - a balanced response is needed , and he cautions against alarm ; emphasising the importance of a proactive and intelligent approach to this stellar rise of AI .
Drawing on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic , he warns against repeating past mistakes , and advocates for a well-informed and measured strategy , to favourably position us in the face of these sweeping changes . But how did we get here ?
100 August 2023