EAccording to Microsoft, an independently acting artificial “superintelligence” is still far from reality. “It is absolutely unlikely that we will see a so-called AGI in the next 12 months, where computers are more powerful than humans,” said Brad Smith, president of the software company, on Thursday. “That will take years, if not decades.” However, we need to start thinking about the safety of this technology now.
AGI stands for “Artificial General Intelligence”. Unlike previous AI such as ChatGPT from Microsoft’s OpenAI, these programs can also carry out complex tasks without human intervention. Critics fear that AGI could start wars or develop and circulate viruses that are deadly to humans.
Did superintelligence play a role in Altman’s expulsion?
The discussion about the point in time of the “technological singularity”, when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, was given new fuel by the confusion surrounding the short-term expulsion of OpenAI boss Sam Altman. Quarrels over the handling of a breakthrough in AI research may have played a role in the affair. According to insiders, the developers of the “Q*” (pronounced: Q-Star) project had warned the OpenAI board of directors about the potentially harmful consequences of a premature publication of the program. From the point of view of Microsoft President Smith, the topic of superintelligence played no role in Altman’s expulsion .There were differences of opinion with the board of directors, but not on fundamental issues like this.
Lawmakers around the world are struggling to find appropriate AI regulation. At an AI summit at the beginning of November, several countries committed to working together on this issue. “What we really need is safety nets,” Smith continued. “Just as there are emergency brakes in elevators or circuit breakers, there should also be such fuses in AI systems that control critical infrastructure so that they always remain under human control.”