Artificial intelligence is still causing tremendous economic and environmental damage, even though we are just a few years into this exciting new era. AI has eliminated at least 15% of entry-level positions, according to a recent analysis released in July. Another report identified the technology as one of the top five causes of job losses. According to the report, two-thirds of data centers constructed since 2022 have been located in high water-stress locations, indicating that AI data centers are depleting local communities’ water supplies.
However, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that all of that should be subordinated to the enthusiasm for AI superintelligence, which he describes as “extremely optimistic.”
Zuckerberg remarked in a post on July 30th, “We have started to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves over the last few months.” For now, the progress is gradual, but it is evident. Developing superintelligence is now in sight.”
Superintelligence, as opposed to the large language models (LLMs) of today, such ChatGPT or Claude, is a technical barrier at which AI models can go beyond themselves, perhaps bringing forth a new era of AI sophistication. Experts in artificial intelligence view superintelligence as a step farther up the evolutionary ladder than artificial general intelligence (AGI), which has long been regarded as the “holy grail” of AI research and refers to the point at which our algorithmic creations transcend human intelligence.
The reality of Zuckerberg’s claims cannot be determined because no peer-reviewed publications describing Meta’s “superintelligence” breakthrough were published; nonetheless, recent research (not associated with Meta) has demonstrated how AI may advance itself. A document published in October 2024 on the preprint service arXiv, for instance, describes the inner workings of a theoretical gadget called Gödel’s Agent, which applies self-recursive enhancements when the potential advantage of an upgrade is asserted by a formal demonstration. While that in and of itself is far from clear, several scientists now feel that superintelligence might probably develop in just a few years after AGI is realized.
Obviously, not all AI is negative. When used by scientists, artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful weapon in the battle against cancer or in unlocking the long-standing mysteries of the cosmological and quantum domains. However, AI is merely another technique for tech CEOs to profit from their stockholders, which for Meta essentially means finding new ways to sell more advertisements.
According to Vox, Zuckerberg summed up his ambitions for AI in a May interview as a way to boost the company’s advertising revenue while retaining Instagram users’ attention. He also discussed AI therapists and AI buddies as a way to fight the loneliness pandemic, which led some AI specialists to label the vision, among other things, “dystopian”:
Back in May, Zvi Mowshowitz, an AI writer, stated, “It was like if you took a left wing caricature of why Zuckerberg is evil, combined it with a left wing caricature about why AI is evil, and then fused them into their final form.” “Apart from the fact that Zuckerberg intentionally uses explicit language in it.”
Zuckerberg has toned down some of the more nefarious elements of his future AI plan in his most recent post. Instead, he emphasizes how personal superintelligence will help you accomplish your objectives, create the world you want to see, go on any adventure, improve your relationships with those you care about, and develop into the person you want to be. This somewhat ambiguous statement highlights the challenges of marketing a future that not many people appear to desire. Couching the concept in platitudes about how fantastic it would be is merely a traditional sales technique, since these platforms hold the potential to cause massive upheaval.
Naturally, if we didn’t attempt to fit some bright new technology into some sunglasses, then any AI vision would be lacking. According to Zuckerberg, smart glasses might potentially serve as a tangible artificial intelligence barrier separating you from reality. Described by Vox as a “Meta-governed layer,” this concept is a logical progression of Zuckerberg’s unsuccessful attempt to create an alternative virtual world with the company’s Metaverse.
This raises the issue, though: Should we really entrust the framework of our nightmarish AI reality to a business that formerly operated under the maxim “move fast and break things”? That well-known remark could eventually serve as a suitable cultural tombstone if we limit the future of AI to Silicon Valley billionaires.
