Here’s how I explained AGI to a layperson recently, thought it might be worth sharing.
Think about yourself for a minute. You have strengths and weaknesses. Maybe you’re bad at math but good at carpentry. And the key thing is that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Nobody’s good at literally everything in the world.
Now, imagine the ideal human. Someone who achieves the limit of human performance possible, in everything, all at once. Someone who’s an incredible chess player, pole vaulter, software engineer, and CEO all at once.
Basically, someone who is quite literally good at everything.
This seems too strict to me, because it says that humans aren’t generally intelligent, and that a system isn’t AGI if it’s not a world-class underwater basket weaver. I’d call that weak ASI.
Fair point, I’ll probably need to revise this slightly to not require all capabilities for the definition to be satisfied. But when talking to laypeople I feel it’s more important to convey the general “vibe” than to be exceedingly precise. If they walk away with a roughly accurate impression I’ll have succeeded
Here’s how I explained AGI to a layperson recently, thought it might be worth sharing.
Think about yourself for a minute. You have strengths and weaknesses. Maybe you’re bad at math but good at carpentry. And the key thing is that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Nobody’s good at literally everything in the world.
Now, imagine the ideal human. Someone who achieves the limit of human performance possible, in everything, all at once. Someone who’s an incredible chess player, pole vaulter, software engineer, and CEO all at once.
Basically, someone who is quite literally good at everything.
That’s what it means to be an AGI.
This seems too strict to me, because it says that humans aren’t generally intelligent, and that a system isn’t AGI if it’s not a world-class underwater basket weaver. I’d call that weak ASI.
Fair point, I’ll probably need to revise this slightly to not require all capabilities for the definition to be satisfied. But when talking to laypeople I feel it’s more important to convey the general “vibe” than to be exceedingly precise. If they walk away with a roughly accurate impression I’ll have succeeded