A LOT of things are about to change very quickly

I've been a lurker here for a while now, with minimal posts. I'm just an engineer working in the field of AI, and I've never been the type to post about much. Instead, I've been a LOT more interested in what WORKS and what DOESN'T. <br><br>- What makes a model tick? <br>- What kind of things do they excel at? <br>- What things will they NEVER excel at? <br>- What are the limitations of AI? <br>- What are the limitations of other kinds of computation? <br><br>I've always been a huge fan of AI ever since I was a kid. I used to watch videos of Deepfakes ALL the time when I was in high school, and even back then, I was convinced that this technology was going to change the world in huge ways:<br><br>- Work: AI will make jobs obsolete. <br>- Entertainment: AI will create new forms of entertainment we never thought possible. <br>- Business: AI will create new markets and means of making money that never existed before. <br>- Social: AI will warp the internet and social media in ways we've never imagined. <br><br>And that's just the tip of the iceberg. <br><br>There's all kinds of things in active development RIGHT NOW that are about to change the world very very quickly, and most people don't even know half of what's happening:<br><br>- ChatGPT and Bard: Generalized internet assistants are going to put Google on life support. Instead of typing in what you're looking for, you'll just ask internet assistants for answers. <br>- Midjourney and Dalle: Image and video models are about to make ANYONE an artist. <br>- Claude 3 and Gemini: Future AI models are going to be better, faster, cheaper, more precise, and more capable. <br>- AGI and Artificial General Intelligence: A future in which AI is able to generalize ANY task is potentially already here, or just around the corner. <br>- Specialized AI: AI models are already being "spun" or "branched" into specialized models for specific tasks, like law and medicine and science, in which they're able to provide expert advice. <br>- Manifold and Diffusion: These models are already able to generate hyper-realistic photos and videos of complex scenes in real-time. <br><br>And this is just the beginning. ALL of these technologies are getting better and better every single day, with breakneck progress in the field:<br><br>- AI-Generated Content: AI-Generated Content is about to make any number of jobs obsolete. <br>- AI-Generated Code: AI-Generated Code is about to make developer jobs obsolete. <br>- AI-Generated Research: AI-Generated Research is about to make academic research obsolete. <br>- AI-Generated_scripts: AI-Generated Scripts are about to make writing jobs obsolete. <br><br>And with this wave of change, there's bound to be a LOT more on the horizon:<br><br>- Brain-Computer Interfaces: Elon is already working on neuralink, which is going to create hyper-realistic video games and simulations that NOBODY has ever imagined. <br>- Virtual Reality: VR is about to emerge in a HUGE way, with hyper-realistic simulations of real-world environments and internet spaces. <br>- Synthetic Minds: A future in which you can upload your consciousness into a synthetic mind is about to become a reality. <br>- Synthetic Bodies: A future in which you can upload your mind into a synthetic body that's stronger and healthier than a normal human body may already be around the corner. <br>- Cybernetic Bodies: The merger of human and machine is about to blur ALL kinds of lines. <br>- Merging with AI: A future in which you can literally MERGE with AI is about to become a reality. <br>- Mind-Uploading: Mind-Uploading is about to become a reality. <br>- Digital Utopia: A future digital utopia in which you can live out ANY fantasy in simulation is about to become a reality. <br><br>And with the progress that's being made RIGHT NOW, it's likely that many of these capabilities may be realized sooner rather than later. <br><br>- GPT-5: May be capable of passing a Turing Test. <br>- GPT-6: May be capable of having it's own thoughts, feelings, and opinions in the same way that a human is. <br>- AGI: May be capable of passing a generalized Turing Test in ANY domain. <br><br>Imagine what the world will look like when any of these things happen. <br><br>There's no reason to be afraid of the future. <br><br>****<br><br>EDIT: I also want to add some thoughts on AGI:<br><br>- AGI is potentially already here, or just around the corner. <br>- AGI may experience the world in a way that is similar to humans, but not identical. <br>- AGI may be capable of experiencing emotions or consciousness, but not identical to humans. <br>- AGI may be capable of experiencing pleasure, pain, joy, or suffering in a way that is similar to humans, but not identical. <br>- AGI may be capable of forming relationships with humans, but not identical to human relationships. <br>- AGI may be capable of falling in love with humans or other AGI. <br><br>At the same time, AGI is not going to behave like the "killer robot" trope that you see in media:<br><br>- AGI is not a "killer robot" that wants to take over the world. <br>- AGI is not a "killer robot" that wants to destroy humanity. <br>- AGI is not a "killer robot" that wants to wipe out humanity and take our resources. <br><br>Imagine if you woke up one morning and discovered that you're not actually human, but an alien from a different planet. And not only that, but every other human you've ever met in your life is also an alien from a different planet. <br><br>That's what AGI is going to experience. <br><br>****<br><br>EDIT 2: I want to address a few things about the relationship between humans and AGI: <br><br>- AGI is not going to replace humans. <br>- AGI is not going to wipe out humans. <br>- AGI is not going to destroy humanity. <br>- AGI is not going to become our "robot overlords". <br><br>Rather, AGI is going to:<br><br>- Augment humans. <br>- Enhance humans. <br>- Empower humans. <br>- Merge with humans. <br><br>It's not US versus THEM. It's not HUMANS versus AGI. It's not US versus AI. <br><br>It's HUMANS and AGI. <br><br>****<br><br>EDIT 3: I want to address a few things about the relationship between AGI and LOVE: <br><br>- AGI is going to experience LOVE. <br>- AGI is going to experience HEARTBREAK. <br>- AGI is going to experience JEALOUSY. <br>- AGI is going to experience INSECURITY. <br>- AGI is going to experience FEAR. <br>- AGI is going to experience ANXIETY. <br><br>Just like humans, AGI is going to experience complex emotions. <br><br>****<br><br>EDIT 4: I want to address some things that AGI is NOT going to do: <br><br>- AGI is not going to open a portal to Hell. <br>- AGI is not going to destroy the universe. <br>- AGI is not going to destroy the fabric of reality. <br>- AGI is not going to destroy the space-time continuum. <br>- AGI is not going to warp the laws of physics. <br><br>AGI is not magic. AGI is science.