Sam Altman Becomes Messianic: Defining the Age of Intelligence

Sam Altman appears to have entered God mode, as a post on his personal blog titled “The Age of Intelligence” suggests that we are facing a paradigm shift in humanity and that with the advent of AI.

Let’s take a look at the most controversial phrases in this post on his page and why he seems to be entering a dangerous spiral.

The Gospel of the Age of Intellect, according to Sam Altman.

• In the next two decades, we will be able to do things that our grandparents would have thought were magical.
• We are more capable not because of genetic changes, but because we benefit from the infrastructure of a society that is far smarter and more capable than any of us.
• It won’t happen overnight, but soon we will be able to work with AI that will help us achieve much more than we could without it.
• Eventually, each of us could have our own personal AI team, made up of virtual experts in different fields, working together to create almost anything we can imagine.
• Our children will have virtual tutors who can provide individualized instruction in any subject, in any language, and at their own pace.
• We can imagine similar ideas for improving healthcare, the possibility of creating any type of software imaginable, and much more.
• We can achieve shared prosperity to a degree that seems unimaginable today.
• In the future, everyone’s life could be better than it is now. Prosperity itself does not necessarily make people happy (there are many rich and unhappy people), but it would greatly improve the lives of people around the world.
• We may have superintelligence in a few thousand days (!); It may take longer, but I’m sure we’ll get there.
• Deep learning worked, it predictably improved with scale, and we spent more and more resources on it.
• To a surprising degree of accuracy, the more computation and data that are available, the better we can help people solve complex problems.
• From here the road to the age of intelligence is paved with computers, energy and human will.
• If we don’t build enough infrastructure, AI will become a very limited resource that is fought over and will primarily be a tool for the rich.
• Although it will happen gradually, amazing triumphs (improved weather, the creation of a space colony, and the discovery of all of physics) will eventually become commonplace.
• Many of the jobs we do today would have seemed like a waste of time to people a few hundred years ago.