OpenAI founder Sam Altman, whose company created the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, announced on Tuesday that his firm had achieved human-level artificial intelligence, before claiming that he was “just memeing”. In a post to the Reddit forum r/singularity, Mr Altman wrote “AGI has been achieved internally”, referring to artificial general intelligence – AI systems that match or exceed human intelligence. His comment came just hours after OpenAI unveiled a major update for ChatGPT that will allow it to “see, hear and speak” to users by processing audio and visual information. Mr Altman then edited his original post to add: “Obviously this is just memeing, y’all have no chill, when AGI is achieved it will not be announced with a Reddit comment.” The r/singularity Reddit forum is dedicated to speculation surrounding the technological singularity, whereby computer intelligence surpasses human intelligence and AI development becomes uncontrollable and irreversible. Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom wrote about the hypothetical scenario in his seminal book Superintelligence, in which he outlined the existential risks posed by advanced artificial intelligence. One of Professor Bostrom’s thought experiments involves an out-of-control AGI that destroys humanity despite being designed to pursue seemingly harmless goals. Known as the Paperclip Maximiser, the experiment describes an AI whose only goal is to make as many paperclips as possible. “The AI will realise quickly that it would be much better if there were no humans because humans might decide to switch it off,” Professor Bostrom wrote. “Also, human bodies contain a lot of atoms that could be made into paper clips. The future that the AI would be trying to gear towards would be one in which there were a lot of paper clips but no humans.” Following Mr Altman’s Reddit post, OpenAI researcher Will Depue posted an AI-generated image to X/Twitter with the caption, “Breaking news: OpenAI offices seen overflowing with paperclips!”. OpenAI is one of several firms pursuing AGI, which if deployed in a way that aligns with human interests has the potential to fundamentally change the world in ways that are difficult to predict. In a blog post earlier this year, Mr Altman outlined his vision for an AGI that “benefits all of humanity”, while also warning that mitigating risks poses a major challenge. “If AGI is successfully created, this technology could help us elevate humanity by increasing abundance, turbocharging the global economy, and aiding in the discovery of new scientific knowledge that changes the limits of possibility,” he wrote. On the other hand, AGI would also come with serious risk of misuse, drastic accidents, and societal disruption. Because the upside of AGI is so great, we do not believe it is possible or desirable for society to stop its development forever; instead, society and the developers of AGI have to figure out how to get it right.” Read More ChatGPT AI is about to be eclipsed by ‘interactive AI’, DeepMind founder says Iranian officials mulling over use of AI to issue fatwas Spotify clarifies position on whether it will ban AI-powered music ChatGPT now has power to ‘see, hear, and speak’

Apple said a lot of words during its recent major event, in which it revealed a new headset and updates for all of its platforms over the course of more than two hours. But there was one specific word – or, more specifically, two initials – that it did not mention at all. The company did not reveal a single product powered by AI, and did not mention artificial intelligence even in passing. It was a marked contrast with other recent tech launches, which have seen companies attempt to link a wide array of new products with the hype over artificial intelligence. In advance of the event, many had speculated that Apple could be forced to discuss AI because of the increasing focus on how companies are using it in their products. Google’s recent I/O event, for instance, made heavy use of the word, seemingly in response to criticism from pundits and shareholders that it was failing to convince the world it had done enough with artificial intelligence. Apple instead opted to describe most updates that could be called “AI” as machine learning, using a more precise term that has fallen out of popularity as artificial intelligence has become so popular as a marketing term. But it even seemed to avoid using that phrase often, even when it could have done. It was not for want of new features that are built on tools that could be described as AI, if Apple wanted to. It showed off everything from automated transcriptions of voice notes and voicemails to AirPods features that can recognise sounds in the environment and filter them out or not depending on whether they seem urgent. Describing them in other ways therefore seemed as if it was an intentional rejection of what has become a voguish way of describing new features in tech in recent months. Apple generally tends to favour words of its own invention, over new and much hyped terms in the technology industry. It also avoided using the word “metaverse” throughout the whole launch event, for instance, despite launching a product that fits specifically with the new focus on virtual and augmented reality. But the lack of mention of AI seemed as if it was the result of an even more active choice to reject the wording. In that way, it seemed to reflect an increasing concern that the widespread use of artificial intelligence as a marketing term is serving both to water down the meaning of the word and confuse users about the actual nature of the product it is being used to describe. It may also be part of an increasing sense that AI is not necessarily viewed positively, and could reflect badly on the products that it is used to market. Recent months have seen a run of reports about both the danger of AI products and the techniques used to make them, such as the analysis of large amounts of data without the consent of those depicted, and so Apple may have decided that using the word could lead to negative connotations.

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