Article on reflections from the BGI (Beneficial AGI Intelligence) Conference written by Dr. Ben Goertzel:
I have spoken at hundreds of conferences over the decades, and organized dozens. A few stand out in my mind as especially dramatic in their content and impact. The first AGI Workshop in 2006 and then the first AGI Conference in 2008 definitely felt that way — these were the first times a substantial group of serious researchers came out and said “AGI is a meaningful practical goal to be pursuing and here we are pursuing it together.”
The BGI-24 event in Panama City in February of this year had a similar feel. The core issues under discussion — the potential for AGI becoming real in the near term, and its potential implications for human society and beyond — are not obscure like AGI was in 2006, but the possibility of rationally and open-heartedly taking a positive, compassionate attitude on these matters sometimes does seem strangely obscure. The public narratives on the future of AGI are disturbingly dominated by fears of existential risk and calls for heavy-handed regulations, punctuated by imprecations to simply trust the Silicon Valley overlords to do what’s best for everyone.
Another big impression that struck me was: There are a variety of different perspectives, taken by educated and thoughtful people on the planet today, from which tremendously positive and beneficial outcomes are a highly likely result of the development of AGI and then superintelligence. But there is very little attention – outside of the BGI event that is – going into synthesizing these perspectives to emerge new understandings. What can we learn by putting together deep insights into consciousness, with deep thinking about democratic and decentralized social dynamics, with creative ideas about AGI cognitive architectures and robotic and virtual embodiments… and human neuroscience and bioscience? Why are we as a society putting so little energy into advancing this sort of synergetic understanding?
There were certainly voices at the event calling for more attention to risks and dangers, and a few talks and panels focusing on these themes — this was a critical aspect to include, but it was not dominant and I don’t think it should have been… any more than, say, cybersecurity should be the primary theme of every Internet event. It was extremely refreshing to discuss the future of AGI among a group that was cognizant of the risks but not exclusively obsessed with them, nor emotionally biased to overestimate them in an overconfident way.
To get a sense of the continued progress, even beyond the constant stream of AI product launches and news headlines,the AGI-24 event is upcoming Aug 13th to 16th at University of Washington in Seattle and online – Register Now. We encourage everyone interested to follow the latest research and development in the AGI field to check it out and join the fascinating fun. However, all this amazing research is only part of the story and it needs to be guided in a compassionate and beneficial direction, which is what the BGI events are about.
This Wednesday on August 7th, we will be holding a panel session that bridges from the success of the BGI Summit and Unconference into the AGI-24 Technical Conference. The panel, titled “Horizons in AGI: Collaborative Governance for a Beneficial Future,” will feature speakers from the BGI event and the AGI Conference, discussing the importance, feasibility, and desirability of global governance of AI and AGI. In addition, the SingularityNET Ambassadors Ethics Workgroup will be hosting a set of community Roundtable discussions after the panel, that everyone is invited to participate in. To learn more and register to attend the Panel Livestream and Roundtable Sessions please visit the details page.
A number of BGI attendees are in the midst of putting together a “BGI Collective” (actual name not yet determined) with an aim of coordinating diverse individuals interested in concretely working toward BGI goals. This is anticipated to come together in a concrete and emphatic way in the fall of this year, in time for it to play a significant role in organizing a BGI-25 event.
For now if you would like to stay involved in the BGI push please join one of our community channels and you can join the preliminary efforts on BGI Collective, BGI25, and participate in related wide-ranging discussions. Also if you are not already on the BGI email list, please explore the official BGI Collective website to join.
– Global AI Initiative Open Office Hours occur every 2 weeks; please subscribe for updates. Open Offices will be closed during the week of August 12th due to our AGI24 conference.
Last but not least: It’s also worth noting that the beneficial-AGI book The Consciousness Explosion, by myself and Gabriel Axel Montes, which was distributed in preliminary electronic form to BGI24 conference attendees, is now available in Kindle, hardcover and paperback as well as PDF form. Please see http://theconsciousnessexplosion.ai for relevant links!
SingularityNET was founded by Dr. Ben Goertzel with the mission of creating a decentralized, democratic, inclusive, and beneficial Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). An AGI is not dependent on any central entity, is open to anyone, and is not restricted to the narrow goals of a single corporation or even a single country. The SingularityNET team includes seasoned engineers, scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and marketers. Our core platform and AI teams are further complemented by specialized teams devoted to application areas such as finance, robotics, biomedical AI, media, arts, and entertainment.
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