Artificial general intelligence
Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that matches or surpasses human capabilities across a wide range of cognitive tasks.[1] This is in contrast to narrow AI, which is designed for specific tasks.[2] AGI is considered one of various definitions of strong AI.
Not to be confused with Generative artificial intelligence.
Creating AGI is a primary goal of AI research and of companies such as OpenAI[3] and Meta.[4] A 2020 survey identified 72 active AGI R&D projects spread across 37 countries.[5]
The timeline for achieving AGI 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.[6] 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.[7] AGI is a common topic in science fiction and futures studies.
Contention exists over the potential for AGI to pose a threat to humanity;[8] 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.[9][6][10]
Terminology
AGI is also known as strong AI,[11][12] full AI,[13] human-level AI[6] or general intelligent action.[14] However, some academic sources reserve the term "strong AI" for computer programs that experience sentience or consciousness.[a] In contrast, weak AI (or narrow AI) is able to solve one specific problem, but lacks general cognitive abilities.[15][12] Some academic sources use "weak AI" to refer more broadly to any programs that neither experience consciousness nor have a mind in the same sense as humans.[a]
Related concepts include artificial superintelligence and transformative AI. An artificial superintelligence (ASI) is a hypothetical type of AGI that is much more generally intelligent than humans,[16] while the notion of transformative AI relates to AI having a large impact on society, for example, similar to the agricultural or industrial revolution.[17]
A framework for classifying AGI in levels was proposed in 2023 by Google DeepMind researchers. They define five levels of AGI: emerging, competent, expert, virtuoso, and superhuman. For example, a competent AGI is defined as an AI that outperforms 50% of skilled adults in a wide range of non-physical tasks, and a superhuman AGI is similarly defined but with a threshold of 100%. They consider that large language models like ChatGPT or LLaMA 2 were instances or emerging AGI.[18]
Benefits
AGI could have a wide variety of applications. If oriented towards such goals, AGI could help mitigate various problems in the world such as hunger, poverty and health problems.[119]
AGI could improve the productivity and efficiency in most jobs. For example, in public health, AGI could accelerate medical research, notably against cancer.[120] It could take care of the elderly,[121] and democratize access to rapid, high-quality medical diagnostics. It could offer fun, cheap and personalized education.[121] For virtually any job that benefits society if done well, it would probably sooner or later be preferable to leave it to an AGI. The need to work to subsist could become obsolete if the wealth produced is properly redistributed.[121][122] This also raises the question of the place of humans in a radically automated society.
AGI could also help to make rational decisions, and to anticipate and prevent disasters. It could also help to reap the benefits of potentially catastrophic technologies such as nanotechnology or climate engineering, while avoiding the associated risks.[123] If an AGI's primary goal is to prevent existential catastrophes such as human extinction (which could be difficult if the Vulnerable World Hypothesis turns out to be true),[124] it could take measures to drastically reduce the risks[123] while minimizing the impact of these measures on our quality of life.