Microsoft president Brad Smith rejects the possibility of super-intelligent AI

Tech giant Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, said that the idea of super-intelligent artificial intelligence is far from reality in today's world. He further said that this project is decades away, as humans have barely tapped into the potential of artificial intelligence.

With the recent turmoil at OpenAI, with their CEO Sam Altman fired and then rehired, people have witnessed that the world of artificial intelligence is very unstable.

Although the detailed reason behind the sacking of Sam Altman was never announced, there were several reports that OpenAI researchers had contacted the board about a recent dangerous discovery shortly before the ousting.

OpenAI has an internal project named Project Q* (pronounced Q-star). This project is said to have the potential for a massive breakthrough in artificial general intelligence (AGI).

OpenAI has defined AGI as systems that would surpass humans in almost every economically valuable task.

However, on Thursday, 30 November 2023, Microsoft President Brad Smith rejected any claims of such a dangerous breakthrough.

He mentioned that there's no chance of seeing so-called AGI, where computers are more powerful than people, in the next 12 months. According to him, it will take years, if not many decades. Nevertheless, he emphasized the need to focus on safety at this time.

Responding to questions regarding Altman's removal, Smith remarked that the mentioned discovery did not play a significant role. He explained that while there was a divergence between the board and others, it wasn't fundamentally centered on concerns related to the mentioned discovery.

Smith expressed the view that the primary focus should be on implementing safety measures. He illustrated this by suggesting the necessity for safety brakes in AI systems controlling critical infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of ensuring they consistently remain under human control, and drawing comparisons to safety features in elevators, electricity circuit breakers, and emergency brakes in buses.