Homo sapiens had a good run. But OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said Thursday AGI — or artificial general intelligence, where AI models can perform any intellectual task that humans can — will be reached within the next few years.
“I think it is possible that in the next four years, we do approximate something like [AGI], and it’s a testament to how fast things are moving,” Lightcap said.
His comment came during a discussion at The Wall Street Journal’s “The Future of Everything” Conference in New York City.
What AGI will mean for humanity has been hotly debated among AI enthusiasts in recent years. Some believe it will spur a wave of unmatched creativity and productivity — an argument made at the conference a day earlier by Groq CEO Jonathan Ross — while others have said they are worried it could lead to mass unemployment, or worse.
Elon Musk, notably, is bullish on AI. But he has also said he is worried AI could pose a “fundamental risk” to humanity if it is goes rogue and is not aligned with humans.
Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, said during a different panel on Thursday that he believes “the pure software part of Silicon Valley” will have a “reckoning” in the next few years as a result of AI.
“I don’t relish or celebrate any of this,” Ohanian said. “I do think more new jobs and careers will be created, but the business of building software is going to look tremendously different in the coming months and years.”
Lightcap on Thursday said, for now, AI models like ChatGPT are simply great tools for humans. But “with the rate of improvement” models are showing, a “fairly steep takeoff” in AI capabilities is right around the corner, he believes.
AI was a hot topic at the “Future of Everything” conference this week. Beyond Ohanian’s comments, Imagine Entertainment bosses Ron Howard and Brian Grazer on Wednesday said they are both “excited” by AI and use it as a tool to jumpstart ideas or help with post-production work. But they also said they do not believe it can or will replace writers anytime soon.
On Thursday, Lightcap said OpenAI has not made any formal deals with entertainment studios because his company is still building a “level of trust” with Hollywood. He said he expects that to change in the years moving forward, as its tools advance and are more useful for professional filmmakers.
