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Comment by lyxell | Hacker News Reader

”I think GPT-5 is the closest to AGI we’ve ever been”

Sorry, but this sounds like overly sensational marketing speak and just leaves a bad taste in the mouth for me.

I found a Hacker News thread via Google a few days ago. One of the top comments was from someone describing their RAG architecture and a certain technique (my search term). The comment boasted that their system was so good it that their team thought they created something close to AGI.

Then I noticed the date on the comment: 2023.

Technically, every advancement in the space is “the closest to AGI that we’ve ever been”. It’s technically correct, since we’re not moving backward. It’s just not a very meaningful statement.

"It's the best iPhone we ever made."

> Technically, every advancement in the space is “the closest to AGI that we’ve ever been”

By that standard Neolithic tool use was progress to AGI.

Technically correct

AGI, like AI before it, has been coopted into a marketing term. Most of the time, outside of sci-fi, what people mean when they say AGI is "a profitable LLM".

In the words OpenAI: “AGI is defined as highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work”

SamA isn't an idiot. When he says AGI he wants you to think of Asimov style AI. Don't run defense for billionaire grifters.

I was not trying to defend him. I'm very annoyed at how these words are being intentionally abused; they chose to recycle the term rather to create a new one exactly to create this confusion. It's still important to know what the grifters mean.

Same marketing BS like "the best iPhone ever!". Well, duh, if your new version (of hardware/software) isn't better, what the deal then?

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