Leading technology billionaires including Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos are actively investing in artificial general intelligence (AGI) and superintelligence development, claiming their goal is to save humanity. Still, experts suggest these grandiose visions conceal their true motivations. Analysis published by Live Science indicates that AGI is an extremely difficult concept to define and even more challenging to implement, which Stuart Russell, professor at the University of California Berkeley, describes as a system capable of solving any intellectual task that a human can solve. However, based on statements from tech leaders, it's suspected that the pursuit of AGI is actually about securing power and economic advantages, while often ignoring the dangers of development.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's latest plans include securing three trillion dollars in funding for AI chip production, which is eight and a half times all current investment capital globally. At the same time, Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Meta's goal is to create a free, open-source superintelligent AI. Analysis published by Futurism, however, points out that Zuckerberg's plan contains fundamental flaws, as creating and operating a true superintelligence would be extremely expensive and pose significant security risks if operated as an open-source system. Experts from the Effective Altruism Forum go even further when explaining that a superintelligent AI could potentially extinguish human civilisation, regardless of who owns it, as it would likely not be fully controllable. Billionaires would not be protected against such an event.
The current technological race in AGI development shows several concerning trends, and according to experts, this is much more a dangerous competition than a genuine humanitarian effort. According to Cybernews, over the past five years, more than three dozen companies worldwide are working on AGI development, and at least seven and a half billion dollars have been invested in this area. Experts, including Timnit Gebru, founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute, warn that these grandiose promises primarily serve to attract further investment and increase the value of technology companies. At the same time, real social problems and ethical questions of AI development are often pushed into the background by interests in increasing profit and power.
Sources:
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Emily M. Bender
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Cybernews · January 13, 2025
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funnyfranco
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Victor Tangermann
