[longerthoughts]

Interesting. Would they be behaving differently if they were just racing to be first to general AI rather than already being "extremely close"? Seems like they're making great strides with specific applications but given the reported limitations even in that class of AI (see Duplex) I'd be surprised if they were on the brink of general intelligence. Of course, you might consider close to be in the next decade or two, in which case [shrugs].