Artificial superintelligence, which is arguably a synonym for AGI or artificial general intelligence, is “now in sight.” So says no lesser an authority than his Royal Zuckness, Meta CEO and self-appointed soothsayer on the subject of synthetic thought, Mark Zuckerberg.
El Zuck made his comment in an open letter posted on the Meta website and titled, “Personal Superintelligence.” The general gist of the missive is that superintelligence is coming and it’s going to be great, like really, really, great, but probably only if it comes from Meta. The superintelligence from everyone else? Yuck, you don’t want that.
“I am extremely optimistic that superintelligence will help humanity accelerate our pace of progress. But perhaps even more important is that superintelligence has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where people will have greater agency to improve the world in the directions they choose.
“As profound as the abundance produced by AI may one day be, an even more meaningful impact on our lives will likely come from everyone having a personal superintelligence that helps you achieve your goals, create what you want to see in the world, experience any adventure, be a better friend to those you care about, and grow to become the person you aspire to be,” Zuckerberg says in spelling out his vision for superintelligence.
The catch, of course, is the implied threat that you’re only going to get this brave new world under the benign AI stewardship of Meta. Everyone else is out to get you.
“Meta’s vision is to bring personal superintelligence to everyone. We believe in putting this power in people’s hands to direct it towards what they value in their own lives. This is distinct from others in the industry who believe superintelligence should be directed centrally towards automating all valuable work, and then humanity will live on a dole of its output,” he says.
So, superintelligence under Meta is some kind of turbocharged individualism, each one of us able to maximise our agency and potential. Under anyone else, it’s the yoke of communal oppression, scratching out an existence courtesy of universal basic income and with nothing of value or importance left to do.
Of course, it’s hard to take Zuckerberg seriously on the subject of how technology and ethics intersect to the point that you have to question the frame of mind that leads to this kind of post. Meta’s track record for placing its own commercial priorities above those of its users, most obviously in the sense of pursuing engagement on its platforms at seemingly any cost, is nothing if not comprehensively established.
So, when he says, “superintelligence will raise novel safety concerns. We’ll need to be rigorous about mitigating these risks and careful about what we choose to open source,” the immediate reaction is, “how about mitigating the risks of the platforms you already run before spooling up something even riskier?”
Anywho, the post is worth a read if only because Zuckerberg and Meta are undeniably influential in this field by dint of the huge amounts of money the company is throwing at AI, with an expected investment of $65 billion in 2025 alone.
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