[9rx]

> Do we really want to replace humans?

AGI doesn't really replace humans, it merely provides a unified model that can be hooked up to carry out any number of tasks. Fundamentally no different than how we already write bespoke firmware for every appliance, except instead of needing specialized code for each case, you can simply use the same program for everything. To that extent, software developers have always been trying to replace humans — so the answer from the HN crowd is a resounding yes!

> We should want better and more reliable tools

Which is what AGI enables. AGI isn't a sentience that rises up to destroy us. There may be some future where technology does that, but that's not what we call AGI. As before, it is no different than us writing bespoke software for every situation, except instead of needing a different program for every situation, you have one program that can be installed into a number of situations. Need a controller for your washing machine? Install the AGI software. Need a controller for your car's engine? Install the same AGI software!

It will replace the need to write a lot of new software, but I suppose that is ultimately okay. Technology replaced the loom operator, and while it may have been devastating to those who lost their loom operator jobs, is anyone today upset about not having to operate a loom? We found even more interesting work to do.

[hodgehog11]

> Which is what AGI enables.

I appreciate the well-crafted response, but respectfully disagree with this sentiment, and I think it's a subtle point. Remember the no free lunch theorems: no general program will be the best at all tasks. Competent LLMs provide an excellent prior from which a compelling program for a particular task can be obtained by finetuning. But this is not what OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic (to a lesser extent) are interested in, as they don't really facilitate it. It's never been a priority.

They want to create a digital entity for the purpose of supremacy. Aside from DeepMind, these groups really don't care about how this tech can assist in problems that need solving, like drug discovery or climate prediction or discovery of new materials (e.g. batteries) or automation of hell jobs. They only care about code assistance to accelerate their own progress. I talk to their researchers at conferences and it frustrates me to no end. They want to show off how "human-like" their model is, how it resembles humans in creative writing and painting, how it beats humans on fun math and coding competitions that were designed for humans with a limited capacity to memorize, how it provides "better" medical opinions than a trained physician. That last use case is pushing governments to outlaw LLMs for medicine entirely.

A lab that claims to push toward AGI is not interested in assisting mankind toward a brighter future. They want to be the first for bragging rights, hype, VC funding, and control.

[9rx]

> no general program will be the best at all tasks.

Perhaps I wasn't entirely clear, but AGI isn't expected to be the best at all tasks. The bar is only as compared to a human, which also isn't the best at all tasks.

But you are right that nobody knows how to make them good at even some tasks. Hence why everyone is so concerned about LLMs writing code. After all, if you had "true" AGI, what would you need code for? It is well understood that AGI isn't going to happen. What many are banking on, however, is that AGI can be simulated if LLMs can pull off being good at one task (coding).

> They want to be the first for bragging rights, hype, VC funding, and control.

That's the motivation for trying to create AGI (at least pretending to), but not AGI itself.

[hodgehog11]

Fair enough. I respect the objective of making a better coding assistant, and I use LLMs for this purpose all the time. I think this is why I would give Anthropic a pass on more things than some of the others, since they are clearly interested in that application, while the others seemed almost begrudgingly pushed into it. If others focused on this application early on, the agentic approach probably would have progressed faster.

But I think we do the discipline a disservice by referring to coding assistance as AGI. Also, having them be good enough that they can write their own code autonomously is a nightmare scenario to me, but I know many others don't feel that way.