Artificial general intelligence

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that can perform as well or better than humans on a wide range of cognitive tasks,[1] as opposed to narrow AI, which is designed for specific tasks.[2] It is one of various definitions of strong AI.

Creating AGI is a primary goal of AI research and of companies such as OpenAI,[3] DeepMind, and Anthropic. A 2020 survey identified 72 active AGI R&D projects spread across 37 countries.[4]

The timeline for AGI development remains a subject of ongoing debate among researchers and experts. As of 2023, some argue that it may be possible in years or decades; others maintain it might take a century or longer; and a minority believe it may never be achieved.[5] There is debate on the exact definition of AGI, and regarding whether modern large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 are early, incomplete forms of AGI.[6] AGI is a common topic in science fiction and futures studies.

Contention exists over the potential for AGI to pose a threat to humanity;[7] for example, OpenAI claims to treat it as an existential risk, while others find the development of AGI to be too remote to present a risk.[8][5][9]

  1. ^ Heaven, Will Douglas (16 November 2023). "Google DeepMind wants to define what counts as artificial general intelligence". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. ^ Krishna, Sri (9 February 2023). "What is artificial narrow intelligence (ANI)?". VentureBeat. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  3. ^ "OpenAI Charter". openai.com. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  4. ^ Baum, Seth, A Survey of Artificial General Intelligence Projects for Ethics, Risk, and Policy (PDF), Global Catastrophic Risk Institute Working Paper 20, archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2021, retrieved 13 January 2022
  5. ^ a b "AI timelines: What do experts in artificial intelligence expect for the future?". Our World in Data. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Microsoft Researchers Claim GPT-4 Is Showing "Sparks" of AGI". Futurism. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  7. ^ Morozov, Evgeny (30 June 2023). "The True Threat of Artificial Intelligence". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Impressed by artificial intelligence? Experts say AGI is coming next, and it has 'existential' risks". ABC News. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Artificial general intelligence: Are we close, and does it even make sense to try?". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 6 April 2023.