philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Google DeepMind wants to define what counts as artificial general intelligence

... Now a team of Google DeepMind researchers has put out a paper that cuts through the cross talk with not just one new definition for AGI but a whole taxonomy of them. ...

The team also outlines five ascending levels of AGI: emerging (which in their view includes cutting-edge chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard), competent, expert, virtuoso, and superhuman ...

For example, the DeepMind researchers state that an AGI must be both general-purpose and high-achieving, not just one or the other. “Separating breadth and depth in this way is very useful,” says Togelius. “It shows why the very accomplished AI systems we’ve seen in the past don’t qualify as AGI.”

They also state that an AGI must not only be able to do a range of tasks, it must also be able to learn how to do those tasks, assess its performance, and ask for assistance when needed. And they state that what an AGI can do matters more than how it does it.  ...

The researchers suggest that if AGI is ever developed, its capabilities should be evaluated on an ongoing basis, rather than through a handful of one-off tests. ...

One question the researchers don’t address in their discussion of whatAGI is, is why we should build it.  ...

Most engineering projects have well-scoped goals. The mission to build AGI does not. ...

See the full story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/16/1083498/google-deepmind-what-is-artificial-general-intelligence-agi/