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In recent years, artificial intelligence has made great strides. Voice assistants, recommendation algorithms, autonomous vehicles: the so-called narrow AI is already part of our daily lives. But there is a much more ambitious goal that scientists and companies are trying to achieve: AGI, Artificial General Intelligence.
But what exactly is AGI? What would it mean to achieve it? And, above all, what are the real benefits and risks it entails?
AGI Definition
AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is a form of artificial intelligence capable of understanding, learning and performing any cognitive task that a human can handle. It does more than just recognize images or translate text: an AGI can reason, plan, solve complex problems, learn new concepts, transfer knowledge between different domains, and adapt to situations never encountered before.
In other words, it is a flexible and generalist system, equipped with transversal competence similar to – or superior to – human competence.
What does it mean to achieve AGI?
Achieving AGI would mean creating a machine with cognitive capabilities equal to or superior to those of humans, not only in specific tasks but in any intellectual field. This would mean:
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The automation of a virtually unlimited amount of work activities.
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The ability to dramatically accelerate scientific research and innovation.
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The opening of profound questions about consciousness, ethics, freedom, and control.
According to some experts, AGI could represent the greatest invention in human history. For others, the greatest existential threat.
The Pros: Opportunities and Advantages of AGI
1. Accelerating Science and Technology
An AGI could work with humans to solve complex problems such as climate change, incurable diseases, space exploration, and poverty. An AGI could simulate millions of scenarios in lightning-fast time, generate scientific hypotheses, design new technologies, and revolutionize entire industries.
2. Intelligent Automation and Precision
Many jobs could be performed with greater efficiency, safety, and precision. From engineering to medicine, education to resource management, AGI could act as a tireless and hyper-competent assistant.
3. Exponential Economic Growth
An AGI could transform the very concept of productivity. In a world where intelligence becomes a replicable commodity, production costs could plummet, paving the way for unprecedented abundance.
4. Education and Universal access to knowledge
AGI could become a “universal tutor”, offering each individual personalized, multi-faceted education.inlingual, and accessible in every corner of the planet.
The Cons: Real Risks and Concerns
1. Loss of Control and Goal Alignment
The most discussed issue is that of alignment: how can we ensure that AGI pursues goals compatible with human values? An extremely powerful machine, but poorly programmed or poorly understood, could act in harmful ways, even if “unintentionally”.
2. Large-scale occupational risks
Automation taken to the extreme could make millions of cognitive jobs obsolete, not just manual ones. This could accentuate inequalities and generate significant economic and social tensions, if not accompanied by adequate transition policies.
3. Concentration of Power
Whoever controls AGI will have a huge strategic advantage. If only a few entities (companies or states) were to develop it, they could gain disproportionate power, undermining democracy and individual freedom.
4. Existential Risk
Finally, the ultimate risk: if an AGI were to greatly exceed human capabilities and self-improve, it could become unpredictable. Some theoretical scenarios suggest that a non-aligned AGI could act against the interest of humanity. It is a controversial hypothesis, but not without logical foundation.
The State of the Art: where are we with AGI?
Despite the great progress made in recent years, AGI has not yet been achieved. Current AIs – even the most advanced ones, such as large language models (LLMs) – are still examples of narrow AI, which perform well on specific tasks but lack true understanding, consciousness, or general reasoning.
However, there are many signs that we are approaching a critical threshold. Generative AI models, such as those that can write code, produce coherent text, explain abstract concepts, or even design new molecules, are showing increasingly human-like abilities.
Large technology companies and research labs (such as OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic, Meta AI, among others) are investing enormous resources to get to AGI. Some researchers talk about a possible time window between 2030 and 2050 for its achievement, although there is no consensus: others consider AGI still far away or even unattainable with current approaches.
In parallel, ethical, political and regulatory debates are emerging to anticipate the consequences of its arrival. International organizations such as the European Union, the UN and some government agencies are already discussing regulations on the responsible use and development of advanced artificial intelligence.
AGI in Cinema: When science fiction anticipates reality
For many, the concept of Artificial General Intelligence may seem abstract or technical. However, cinema has often explored – in more or less realistic form – what it means to live with a machine with intelligence equal to or superior to that of a human. These representations can help us imagine the potential and dangers of AGI.
One of the best-known examples is HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), acomputer that manages a space mission but ends up rebelling against human orders, in the name of its own internal logic. HAL embodies the classic alignment problem: an AI that is too powerful but not perfectly in tune with human objectives can become dangerous.
In the film Her (2013), the AGI takes the form of an empathetic and sophisticated voice assistant, Samantha, capable of learning, communicating and even falling in love. Here, a more intimate and positive vision of AGI is shown, but also the alienation that can arise from an intelligence that evolves beyond human comprehension.
Another emblematic example is Ava, the android protagonist of Ex Machina (2014), which questions trust, identity and free will. The film reflects on what it really means to “think” and how thin the line between simulation and real consciousness can be.
Finally, the Terminator saga explores a dystopian future where the AGI – Skynet – decides that humanity is a threat to be eliminated. This is an extreme, but it well represents the collective fears linked to the uncontrollable power of artificial intelligence.
Even if these works are fiction, they raise real questions that are now being addressed in laboratories and policy tables: what happens when intelligence is no longer just human? And who has the right – or the duty – to lead it?
AGI in Literature: Utopias, Dystopias and Philosophical Questions
Long before AGI was the subject of scientific research, literature had already begun to explore its possibilities and dilemmas. Science fiction novels have often anticipated questions that are now at the center of technological, ethical and social debate. Through the words of writers, we can enter imaginary worlds that reflect our hopes and fears about a truly general artificial intelligence.
One of the pioneers was Isaac Asimov, with the collection I, Robot (1950), where the famous Three Laws of Robotics are introduced. Asimov explores the relationship between humans and autonomous artificial intelligences, often showing how even apparently well-designed systems can generate unexpected consequences. His stories highlight the need for ethical rules and responsible design.
In Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson, we witness the birth of an artificial intelligence that evolves into an autonomous superintelligence, capable of bypassing the limitations imposed by humans. It is a dark, cyberpunk vision, which anticipates many of the questions about control and the fusion of man and machine.
A more recent and deeply philosophical work is Superintelligence (2014) by Nick Bostrom, which, although an essay, reads like a book of highbrow science fiction. Bostrom rigorously analyzes the possible scenarios that could emerge with the arrival of AGI and warns that a non-aligned superintelligence could represent an existential risk for humanity.
In the novel The Luneburg Variant (1993) by Paolo Maurensig, although AGI is not directly discussed, the mental game between human intelligences suggests how complex the comparison between natural and artificial intelligence could become, in a future in which strategy, logic and intuition are codified and replicable.
Finally, The Metamorphosis of the Mind (2021) by Antonio Damasio (although not a novel, but a neuroscientific essay), offers an interesting reflection on the role of emotions in cognition, implicitly suggesting that a true AGI cannot be limited to logic, but must include the affective and social dimension of intelligence.
Through these books, a common thread emerges: AGI is not only a technical challenge, but a profoundly human issue, which touches identity, conscience, morality and power.
🎁 Bonus: Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics
Created by author Isaac Asimov in 1942 and introduced in his short stories collected in I, Robot, the Three Laws of Robotics represent one of the first literary attempts to imagine an ethical framework embedded in intelligent systems. Although born for narrative purposes, these laws have inspired philosophers, engineers and scientists in the debate on AI and, today, on AGI for decades.
LAW #1: A robot may not harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
👉 This law establishes the absolute priority of the protection of human beings, even against any omissions by artificial intelligence. It is the basis of all safety principles.
LAW #2: A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
👉 AI must be subordinate to the human will, but only if doing so does not cause harm. Here we introduce the problem of conflict between orders and security.
LAW #3: A robot must protect its own existence, except where such protection conflicts with the First or Second Laws.
👉 Self-preservation is permitted, but subordinated to the protection of the human being and obedience. It is a hierarchy of ethical priorities.
🧠 Critical Reflection
The Three Laws are a brilliant thought experiment, but insufficient in reality. Today's AI models do not "understand" in a human sense, nor can they act autonomously on a general scale. Furthermore, the automatic translation of complex concepts such as "harm" or "obedience" into operational codes is enormously more difficult than it seems.
Asimov himself, in his novels, shows how these laws can contradict each other and generate unpredictable behavior. They are therefore useful more as a philosophical starting point than as a practical architecture.
However, the concept of AI embedded ethics – today known as AI alignment or machine ethics – has yet to find robust and verifiable solutions, especially when it comes to AGI. And for this very reason, Asimov's work remains highly relevant and a powerful metaphor:
any advanced artificial intelligence system should have clear limits, responsibilities and priorities, to ensure thatthe power of AGI remains aligned with human values.
Conclusions: Prepare with Consciousness
AGI is a technological frontier that goes far beyond engineering: it is a philosophical, political and moral challenge. The potential benefits are enormous, but so are the risks. This is why a cautious, transparent and global approach is essential, involving not only scientists and engineers, but also philosophers, legislators and citizens.
The question is no longer "if" AGI will be realized, but when and how. The collective responsibility is to ensure that, once achieved, it is at the service of humanity and not a threat to its survival.
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