We could be on the cusp of a terrifying technological future, with experts warning we might be approaching a moment of singularity.
Ever since the emergence of large language models (LLMs), scientists have been looking at the sadly probable moment that tech could overtake humans.
There are already plenty of concerns about the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and whether we, flesh and blood humans, will be able to keep up.
The likes of ChatGPT and Grok are becoming more intelligent by the day, and with some AI models even refusing to be turned off when we try, those dystopian sci-fi horrors and the likes of Black Mirror are starting to feel eerily close to becoming a reality.
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For those who don't know, the 'singularity' is the moment that machines overtake mankind in terms of intelligence.
Although some optimists suggest we're still decades away from that grim situation, the CEO of Anthropic thinks we could already be there.
As someone on Reddit explained: "The technological singularity is a period of time in which technology changes human society and life so quickly, that our predictions for what will happen next are useless even on short timescales like a month.
“The future becomes unpredictable for a human. Just like in physics, our predictive models are no longer applicable."
In an October 2024 essay titled "Machines of Loving Grace", Dario Amodei said that he thinks we'd hit the point of singularity in less than six months. Considering that was eight months ago, could we already be past the point of no return?
As reported by Bloomberg, Amodei said that he's frustrated with either being portrayed as a doomer or accelerationist, adding: "We need to seize the benefits and prevent the risks. We need to do both at the same time."
In terms of the mythical artificial general intelligence (AGI) that can outperform even Nobel Prize-winning scientists before the start of 2026, Amodei admitted: "I think that’s the earliest. But you know, that doesn’t mean I think that’s necessarily the most likely…I can tell you a story where things get blocked and it doesn’t happen for 100 years. That is possible. But I would certainly bet in favor of this decade."
Beyond AGI, we'll have to look out for the Artificial Superintelligence that some think could spell the end of days for humanity.
This worrying window has been backed up by Elon Musk suggesting AGI will also be here by 2026, while OpenAI's Sam Altman predicts this decade. There's also a new study from AIMultiple, analyzing 8,590 predictions from scientists, leading entrepreneurs, and the wider community. The report explains: "Current surveys of AI researchers are predicting AGI around 2040.
"However, just a few years before the rapid advancements in large language models (LLMs), scientists were predicting it around 2060. Entrepreneurs are even more bullish, predicting it around ~2030."
Not everyone is sold, with deep learning pioneer Yann LeCun championing the idea that AGI should be rebranded to 'advanced machine intelligence' because human intelligence is too specialised to be replicated by AI.