Beyond generative AI: "AGI" and "ASI"

With the advent of generative AI, the way we work has changed dramatically. Many people have been surprised when they were presented with a quote that assumes the use of generative AI. Depending on the industry, AI is already taking over human jobs.

However, AI researchers and developers say that the current generative AI is still a technology that is still in development, and that they ultimately aim to become "AGI" and "ASI". What exactly are "AGI" and "ASI" that AI researchers and developers are talking about?

"AGI" is an abbreviation for Artificial General Intelligence. In Japanese, it is abbreviated as artificial general intelligence, and literally refers to artificial intelligence that can think in a general way like a human. What does general thinking mean?

For example, when a human cooks a dish, they cut the ingredients, start a fire, fry them, season them, and serve them on a plate while thinking about the most efficient cooking order. However, current generative AI is specialized in a specific area and cannot perform such general tasks in parallel.

But what if AI itself could think independently? It is easy to imagine that it will be possible to drastically reduce the amount of work done by humans.

Furthermore, humans can evolve. If you fail to season a dish, you can make the decision to use less salt the next time. Therefore, we are trying to give AGI the ability to learn from experience like humans. AI that has the decision-making ability to derive the optimal solution from the learning results and execute it.

This is what the future holds for AI currently named AGI. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company that provides ChatGPT, is currently working on the development of AGI. He has declared that he will spare no expense in terms of development costs, and seems to believe that it is not far off.

The other "ASI" is an abbreviation for Artificial Superintelligence. In Japanese, it is literally called artificial superintelligence. If AGI continues to evolve through self-learning, one day an artificial intelligence far beyond human intelligence will be born. This is ASI.

Humans are already unable to know what theory a generative AI used to reach a conclusion unless they investigate the process in great detail. If this were to happen with ASI, it could potentially solve problems that were previously considered difficult or impossible, using theories that humans would never be able to reach.

However, the birth of ASI would mark the first time in history that humanity would encounter something far smarter than itself. It would be an encounter with the unknown, and fear of this is deeply rooted around the world.

This year, an autonomous AI was announced that can launch projects and create websites on its own initiative. Many experts believe that AGI will likely become a reality within the next 5 to 10 years.

It is highly likely that AGI will be able to take over and support areas that have traditionally been performed by specialized personnel and consultants over a long period of time, such as data processing and analysis, and the speed at which new services are developed and provided will also dramatically increase.

In the science fiction novels we read when we were young, highly advanced AI was forced to do harsh labor instead of humans, and became disgusted by this and rebelled against humanity. However, as real AI becomes more widespread, AI has more opportunities to do the work of white-collar workers, and scenes of humans engaged in steady labor are more prominent.

Sam Altman, mentioned above, dreams of a society where humans do not need to work, but to actually realize a society where humans do not need to work, the development of AI alone is not enough. Rather, further development of robotics will be required so that AI can become the hands and feet of AI and engage in detailed labor.

Therefore, it is thought that AI that has evolved beyond labor will be active in the fields of nursing care and communication. More and more households have smart speakers at home. What if AGI was installed in these?

Or, what if AGI was installed in a pet-type robot and it could talk to it at all times? It could be used to watch over lonely elderly people.

Once AGI is completed, it will likely be used in the field of white-collar workers to improve work efficiency. Its high language processing ability could be used to help people in the field of communication right away. In the meantime, AGI will evolve and reach the level of ASI.

When that happens, various changes will begin, such as designing robots that will be our hands and feet with intelligence far beyond that of humans, new scientific discoveries, and technological advances that humans could not reach.

However, ASI that far surpasses humans may reach conclusions that are not permissible from a human ethical perspective. At that time, will we decide to ignore ethics in order to solve the problem, or should we adhere to ethics in order to protect our humanity?

We need to consider whether or not a system will allow humans to retain the final decision-making power. I would like to continue to closely monitor changes in society while watching with anticipation as technology evolves in the future.

AGI development leader

▶Google has already begun offering a service in which search results are automatically summarized using generative AI.

▶Since it is not yet clear how to control generative AI once it has evolved, a "PAUSE AI" movement has begun around the world.

What is the Singularity?

A term referring to the turning point at which AI surpasses human intelligence, or the changes that occur as a result of that turning point. It can also be translated as singularity. It refers to the point at which AI surpasses humans, resulting in a fundamental change in the way humans and AI exist, but experts are divided on what will happen.

Some researchers seriously talk about AI dominating humans, and it is necessary to take into account this trend of AI aversion when developing AI.

Related articles

The advent of the AI ​​era: what is the vision for the future of society?

The advancement of AI into society as seen from the successive Nobel Prizes awarded to AI researchers