Unnecessary. In my view, the immediate answer to this is to let AI train in the real world, for instance surveillance footage, microphones in public locations that will be able to hear and transcribe entire conversations with humans in the “wild”, environmental/satellite sensor data, AI controlled drones with cameras that the AI can “explore” with etc. Additionally, humans interfacing with the AI is also going to be a source of data especially if an AI can “interview” people.
If anything, I can see a future with a push to further erode privacy laws with the ultimate aim of getting more access to human data in the real world to train AI. I’m sure the smartphones in everyone’s pocket is a rich source of sensors and data…
If we can get to a point where AI can reliable seek out, filter/normalize and incorporate data from the real world into its model, that’s when it will probably start approaching the singularity.