"On the 8.49am train through Silicon Valley, the tables are packed with young people glued to laptops, earbuds in, rattling out code. As the northern California hills scroll past, instructions flash up on screens from bosses: fix this bug; add new script. There is no time to enjoy the view. These commuters are foot soldiers in the global race towards artificial general intelligence when AI systems become as or more capable than highly qualified humans."
"Breakthroughs come at an accelerating pace with every week bringing the release of a significant new AI development. Every time we reach the summit of bullshit mountain, we discover there's worse to come. Alex Hanna, co-author of The AI Con Anthropic's co-founder Dario Amodei predicts AGI could be reached by 2026 or 2027. OpenAI's chief executive, Sam Altman, reckons progress is so fast that he could soon be able to make an AI to replace him as boss."
Commuters in Silicon Valley spend work commutes coding and implementing boss instructions, reflecting relentless developer labor focused on AI progress. Major Bay Area companies, universities, and startups compete aggressively for talent with massive compensation and hiring efforts. Trillions of dollars in capital back the pursuit of artificial general intelligence, intensifying rivalry with international competitors such as China. Rapid weekly breakthroughs and escalating claims about imminent AGI compress timelines and heighten stakes. High valuations for AI startups coexist with warnings about a potential AI investment bubble. Industry leaders publicly predict AGI timelines and contemplate profound organizational and societal impacts.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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