From A.I. to A.G.I. .... leading to "radical abundance," ... and/or ???? Google's "DeepMind" CEO Demis Hassabis

"It's moving incredibly fast. I think we are on some kind of exponential curve of improvement."

Related: Then what happens when you add this?

Distantly related

Excerpt to the first link above ("60 minutes" video w/transcript):

Scott Pelley: The end of disease?

Demis Hassabis: I think that's within reach. Maybe within the next decade or so, I don't see why not. 

Demis Hassabis told us AI could lead to what he calls "radical abundance"—the elimination of scarcity.

But he also worries about risk.

Demis Hassabis: There's two worries that I worry about. One is that bad actors, humans you know, users of these systems repurpose these systems for harmful ends. And then the second thing is the AI systems themselves as they become more autonomous and more powerful. Can we make sure that-- we can keep control of the systems? That they're aligned with our values, they-- they're doing what we want that benefits society. And they stay on guardrails. 

"Guardrails" are safety limits built into the system. 

Scott Pelley: And I wonder if the race for AI dominance is a race to the bottom for safety.

Demis Hassabis: So that's one of my big worries actually, is the-- of course all of this energy, and racing, and resources is great for progress. But it might incentivize certain actors in-- in that to cut corners. And one of the corners that could be shortcut would be safety and responsibility. So the question is, is how can we-- coordinate more, you know, as leading players, but also nation-states, even. I think this is an international thing. AI's gonna affect every country-- everybody in the world. So I think it's really important that the world and the international community has a say in this.

Scott Pelley: Can you teach an AI agent morality?

Demis Hassabis: I think you can. They learn by demonstration. They learn by teaching. And I think that's one of the things we have to do with these systems, is to give them a value system and-- a guidance, and some guardrails around that, much in the way that you would teach a child.

Google DeepMind is in a race with dozens of others striving for artificial general intelligence so human that you can't tell the difference. Which made us think about Demis Hassabis signing the Nobel Book of Laureates—when does a machine sign for the first time? And after that, will humans ever sign it again?

Demis Hassabis: I think in the next steps is going to be these amazing tools that enhance our, almost every endeavor we do as humans and then beyond that, when AGI arrives, you know, I think, it's gonna change pretty much everything about the way we do things.

And its almost you know, I think we need new great philosophers to come about hopefully in the next five, ten, years to understand the implications of this. "