‘You're a peasant': Ex-Google executive exposes grim AI reality

News.com.au

13 hours ago

Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer at Google X, has a grim prediction about the future of AI.
Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Mr Gawdat warned that the world as we know it would soon be looking very different with the AI revolution.
The 58-year-old engineer believes that reaching artificial general intelligence (AGI) could be as early as 2027.
For those unacquainted, AGI refers to the point in which artificial intelligence can match the ability and understanding of any task that a human can do.
It's at this point, Mr Gawdat warns, that the world would see mass job losses, as AI would be capable of replacing most knowledge-based jobs.
Such jobs on the line include podcasters, software engineers, even CEOs.
'AGI will get better at everything, including being a CEO,' he said.
He references his own start-up company as an example: Emma Love, which is currently only operating with three people, including himself, and a whole lot of AI.
The big thing to note here is the use of AI. Mr Gawdat says the work being done currently would have required 350 developers in the past.
He describes the period of adjusting to an AGI civilisation as an unavoidable 'short-term dystopia', and predicts it could be a reality within just two years.
It's not just mass job losses we'll see either - the former Google executive warns there could be an increase in world warfare, social unrest, and a massive distribution of power that will eliminate the middle class.
'Unless you're in the top 0.1%, you're a peasant,' Mr Gawdat said.
'There is no middle class.'
But while it may all seem big and scary, Mr Gawdat pointed out an upside to a post-AGI civilisation.
'But the truth is it could be the best world ever,' he said.
'The society completely full of laughter and joy.
'Free healthcare, no jobs, spending more time with their loved ones. A world where all of us are equal.'
It's a sentiment shared by Nobel prizewinner and head of Google's Deepmind, Demis Hassabis, who believes that the future is more utopian than anything.
He estimates reaching AGI will likely occur at some point in the next five to ten years, a bit further than Gawdat's 2027.
'Assuming we steward it safely and responsibly into the world, and obviously we're trying to play our part in that, then we should be in a world of what I sometimes call radical abundance,' he said to The Guardian.
'It should lead to incredible productivity and therefore prosperity for society.
'Of course, we've got to make sure it gets distributed fairly, but that's more of a political question.
'And if it is, we should be in an amazing world of abundance for maybe the first time in human history, where things don't have to be zero sum.'
And while Mr Hassabis points to current global issues that could be addressed through breakthroughs in medicine, nuclear fusion and material innovation, we wouldn't blame you for keeping a healthy dose of scepticism.
After all, in the past few years, we've seen so many issues around AI it would be imprudent to keep a blind eye: the rise of deepfakes and misinformation, the carbon footprint of large language models, security risks, to name a few.
But Mr Hassabis remains hopeful.
'I'm a cautious optimist,' he said.
'So overall, if we're given the time, I believe in human ingenuity. I think we'll get this right.
'I think also, humans are infinitely adaptable.
'I mean, look where we are today.
'Our brains were evolved for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and we're in modern civilisation.
'The difference here is, it's going to be 10 times bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and maybe 10 times faster.'