Top scientist warns AI could surpass human intelligence in just three years time

07 March 2024 , 18:18

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Artifical Intelligence expert Ben Goertzel has said the technology could be working at a human level in as little as three years (Image: Web Summit via Getty Images)

A top scientist has warned that AI could surpass human intelligence by 2027.

Ben Goertzel, a PhD mathematician and futurist, said that the rapid rate of advancement in the technology - specifically in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which imitates human cognition - means bots could be soon achieving feats in engineering and science at a "superhuman" level.

He is the founder of SingularityNET, a company which says it aims to create "democratic" and decentralised AGI for the benefit of humankind. Mr Goertzel told the Beneficial AGI summit this month: "It seems quite plausible we could get to human-level AGI within, let's say, the next three to eight years. My own view is once you get to human-level AGI, within a few years you could get a radically superhuman AGI."

A significant milestone would come when AI bots can develop themselves, Mr Goertzel explained (Getty Images)

He also predicted that a single computer could easily rival the ability of a human brain by the end of this decade - and that one unit could end up boasting more power than the whole of human society in the years that followed. Mr Goertzel said: "In the next decade or two [it] seems likely an individual computer will have roughly the computing power of a human brain by 2029, 2030. Then you add another 10/15 years on that, an individual computer would have roughly the computing power of all of human society."

He explained that the exponential growth of AGI means the rate of change may be difficult for humans to understand at present, though said current systems would need to be combined with new inventions for this to happen. A significant milestone would come when the bots are able to develop and create improved versions of themselves without any input from developers - potentially leading to the long-speculated singularity in Artificial Intelligence. He added: "Once we have a system that can design and write code well enough to improve upon itself and write subsequent versions, we enter a realm that could lead to a full-on intelligence explosion and Technological Singularity."

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The computer expert said that some safeguards would need to be in place should we approach this stage, and that current restrictions on the technology are not strong enough. While Ben Goertzel has warned about the possible impacts of AI in the past - claiming in 2023 that it could replace up to "80 per cent of jobs that people do" in the next few years - he has also spoken enthusiastically about the benefits it could also bring in fighting poverty, climate change, and disease.

Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas