Ask HN: Is anyone making any serious career/life plans anticipating AGI? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is anyone making any serious career/life plans anticipating AGI?

6 pointsatleastoptimal3 comments

Seeing the speed at which AI is evolving, it only makes sense to me that there's a 50-60% chance in 5 years there will be AI models as smart as humans.

At the very least it will massively undercut human knowledge work. At the most it will transform the world into an AI controlled post AGI super-machine. Either way, my 401k isn't going to mean anything, which is why I am deliberately not making any plans that stretch beyond 3-4 years from now.

Even so, as much as I can rationally extrapolate the implications of these changes, it still seems odd that it's all going to happen before I'm even 30. Does anyone else feel this way, and if so, are you making any major life decisions with it in mind?

I'd like to believe it will be less apocalyptic than some are saying. There were similar claims over workers being obsolete with every major technology innovation. Some jobs may require fewer people or be eliminated, but at the same time, new jobs will likely be created.

There is also a question of how accessible the technology will be. It's expensive to run, and if the application is specific, there needs to be an investment from a company to building and training the models they need. Today we have some companies that are heavily automated with amazing sophisticated systems... others are still using paper or very basic off the shelf computer programs they could have had 20+ years ago. Going to some of those smaller companies that aren't making billion dollar investments in AI will probably still be viable for decades.

Predicting the future can been pretty tough. I would think it prudent to keep making long term plans and contributing to your 401k, saving for a house, etc.. That way if the Terminator-style takeover by machines doesn't happen or if the AGI basic income isn't enough for your liking, you'd still have options.

This is like asking if anyone is making any serious career/life plans anticipating fly cars … except flying cars are probably easier than AGI. Generative AI, which is where all the excitement is, is a dead end path for AGI.

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