Comment by bryanlarsen

AFAICT "AGI" is a placeholder for peoples fears and hopes for massive change caused by AI. The singularity, massive job displacement, et cetera.

None of this is a binary, though. We already have AGI that is superhuman in some ways and subhuman in others. We are already using LLM's to help improve themselves. We already have job displacement.

That continuum is going to continue. AI will become more superhuman in some ways, but likely stay subhuman in others. LLM's will help improve themselves. Job displacement will increase.

Thus the question is whether this rate of change will be fast or slow. Seems mundane, but it's a big deal. Humans can adapt to slow changes, but not so well to fast ones. Thus AGI is a big deal, even if it's a crap stand in for the things people care about.