Google Deepmind launches interdisciplinary institute to tackle the big questions around AGI
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Google DeepMind has founded the DeepMind Institute (DMI), an interdisciplinary platform for research and debate on artificial general intelligence, or AGI. The institute will bring together researchers from Google DeepMind, Google and the wider global scientific community to address questions of safety, governance and risks such as cyberattacks or loss of control. Its directors—Shane Legg, James Manyika and Nobel laureate Demis Hassabis—say the answers should not come from technologists alone but also from the arts, humanities and policy. There is no agreed definition of AGI; DeepMind describes it as a system with all the cognitive abilities of the human brain and says AGI is close, even though current AI systems still fail at simple tasks and lack creativity. Hassabis expects AGI within a few years, while Legg recently said a precursor could arrive by 2028. OpenAI is focused on economic value, and CEO Sam Altman believes AGI could come by the end of the year. AGI should not be confused with ASI, an artificial superintelligence that would far surpass humans in every respect, although AGI is likely a necessary step toward it.
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