Critique of AGI Pursuit as Distraction from Practical Engineering
By
tomwphillips
Crackling crust, pillowy middle. The kind of bagel that earns a second cup of coffee.
Summary
The article critiques the pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) as a harmful fantasy that distracts from practical engineering work. It references Karen Hao's book 'Empire of AI' to highlight how OpenAI founders genuinely believe in AGI's potential to either save or destroy humanity, with Elon Musk framing the effort as a moral battle against DeepMind. The author argues this AGI obsession is wasteful and counterproductive to effective engineering principles.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThey really do think someone, perhaps them, will build AGI, and that it will lead to either the flourishing or destruction of humanity.
Musk would regularly characterise Hassabis as a supervillain who needed to be stopped. Musk would make unequivocally clear that OpenAI was the good to DeepMind's evil.
AGI is a harmful and wasteful fantasy that runs counter to the principles of efficient and effective engineering.
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