Priests of the Cyborg Theocracy speak of “superhuman” intelligence so often, it’s almost banal. Every new gadget appears to them as a prophecy f

Faith-based Futurism - by Joe Allen - SINGULARITY WEEKLY

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2024-10-02 13:30:05

Priests of the Cyborg Theocracy speak of “superhuman” intelligence so often, it’s almost banal. Every new gadget appears to them as a prophecy fulfilled. It’s as if artificial intelligence will be the second coming of Christ, although I doubt these guys believe in the first coming.

Last week OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speculated the advent of godlike AI “may turn out to be the most consequential fact about all of history so far.” He went on to predict, “It is possible that we will have superintelligence in a few thousand days!”

Is that in ten years? Twenty? Talk about hedging your bet. Altman wrote this in a September 23 blog post entitled “The Intelligence Age.” The title brings to mind spies who comb over a target’s private life, looking for psychological pressure points and compromising material—an age of intelligent agents and casual surveillance. In tune with that vibe, OpenAI now has a former NSA chief on its board.

You also have an OpenAI collaborator, the new CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, depicting digital agents as something akin to guardian angels, or maybe more like old school human intel agents. “Your AI should remember everything about you,” Sulyman recently said of the Copilot app, “all your contacts, all your personal data—everything you’ve said—and be there to support you...throughout your life.”