“AI development won’t get us to transformative AI, we don’t think that AI safety will make a difference, we’re just going to optimize for profitability.”
So, Meta’s messaging is actually quite inconsistent. Yann LeCun says (when speaking to certain audiences, at least) that current AI is very dumb, and AGI is so far away it’s not worth worrying about all that much. Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, is quite vocal that their goal is AGI and that they’re making real progress towards it, suggesting 5+ year timelines.
I think Yann LeCun thinks “AGI in 2040 is perfectly plausible”, AND he believes “AGI is so far away it’s not worth worrying about all that much”. It’s a really insane perspective IMO. As recently as like 2020, “AGI within 20 years” was universally (correctly) considered to be a super-soon forecast calling for urgent action, as contrasted with the people who say “centuries”.
My recollection from Zuckerberg was that he was thinking of transformative AI, at least, as a fairly far-away goal, more like 8 to 20 years++ (and I’d assume “transformative AI” would be further), and that overall, he just hasn’t talked much about it.
I wasn’t thinking of all of Yann LeCun’s statements, in part because he makes radical/nonsensible-to-me statements all over the place (which makes me assume he’s not representing the whole department). It’s not clear to me how much most of his views represent Meta, though I realize he is technically in charge of AI there.
So, Meta’s messaging is actually quite inconsistent. Yann LeCun says (when speaking to certain audiences, at least) that current AI is very dumb, and AGI is so far away it’s not worth worrying about all that much. Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, is quite vocal that their goal is AGI and that they’re making real progress towards it, suggesting 5+ year timelines.
I think Yann LeCun thinks “AGI in 2040 is perfectly plausible”, AND he believes “AGI is so far away it’s not worth worrying about all that much”. It’s a really insane perspective IMO. As recently as like 2020, “AGI within 20 years” was universally (correctly) considered to be a super-soon forecast calling for urgent action, as contrasted with the people who say “centuries”.
That could be.
My recollection from Zuckerberg was that he was thinking of transformative AI, at least, as a fairly far-away goal, more like 8 to 20 years++ (and I’d assume “transformative AI” would be further), and that overall, he just hasn’t talked much about it.
I wasn’t thinking of all of Yann LeCun’s statements, in part because he makes radical/nonsensible-to-me statements all over the place (which makes me assume he’s not representing the whole department). It’s not clear to me how much most of his views represent Meta, though I realize he is technically in charge of AI there.
He isn’t in charge there. He simply offers research directions and probably a link to academia.
Do you have a source for that? His website says:
I recall him saying this on Twitter and linking a person in a leadership position who runs things there. Don’t know how to search that.
https://x.com/ylecun/status/1794248728825524303?s=46&t=lZJAHzXMXI1MgQuyBgEhgA
He’s recently mentioned it again.