There have been some major strides in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) in the past decade with software like the infamous chat gpt gaining popularity. With all the attention currently surrounding the field, almost everyone is familiar with what AI is. However, a term which not too many people would be familiar with is AGI or Artificial General Intelligence. AGI is a type of AI, which would be able to do almost any and all tasks while AI models today can only do the specific tasks they are built for. It is considered to be the ultimate goal of AI research, however, it is a futuristic technology and not currently a reality.
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) would be able to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can and would experience the world in a way similar to humans with its ability to process visual and auditory information. In addition AGI would be able to understand human languages and could communicate with humans.
Theoretically, AGI would possess highly advanced abilities, including the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, understand complex concepts, learn quickly, and learn from experience (improving its performance over time). It would be able to analyse large amounts of data and make predictions and recommendations that would be impossible for a human to make. With such a wide range of capabilities, AGI has the potential to revolutionize many industries, such as healthcare, finance, transportation, and manufacturing. It could also automate various tasks, leading to increased efficiency and productivity.
Despites its various benefits, AGI could also pose a great risk to society. Some experts in the field have expressed their concerns regarding the fact that AGI could be used for malicious purposes, such as creating autonomous weapons or invading privacy in various research papers (a link with a summary of some of these is below). Furthermore, there is also a possibility that AGI could surpass human intelligence in every which way (including emotional intelligence) making certain jobs obsolete, which would lead to social upheaval.
In conclusion, Artificial General Intelligence, if ever created, would be the pinnacle of AI but it would still have various risks. Therefore, the goal should be to continue to advance in AGI research while making sure that it is developed (with extensive international oversight/regulation) in a way that is not only beneficial, but also safe for humanity
Bibliography
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0952813X.2021.1964003
This is also the mentioned link with summary of concerns from research papers
~ Neel Mehta | 11C
