Former Google CEO warns ‘AI could surpass human intelligence in next few years'; what is artificial superintelligence and why it matters

Time of India

5 hours ago

As debates around AI ethics, automation, and job displacement continue to dominate public discourse, a far more consequential development is quietly emerging—one that, according to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, is not receiving nearly the attention it deserves. In a recent episode of the Special Competitive Studies Project podcast, Schmidt delivered a compelling warning:
Artificial Superintelligence
(ASI) is on the horizon, and society is dangerously underprepared to face its arrival.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns: AI will surpass all human intelligence in few years
As per the public conversations often fous on near-term AI risks such as algorithmic bias or job automation, Schmidt's concern lies in what lies just beyond the visible curve of innovation. He points to the emergence of
ASI
, a
form of intelligence vastly superior to that of any individual human as the next seismic shift in technological evolution
. Unlike Artificial General Intelligence (
AGI
), which
seeks to match human cognitive abilities
, ASI represents a system capable of surpassing not just individual intelligence, but potentially the collective intelligence of all humans combined.
'People do not understand what happens when you have intelligence at this level, which is largely free,' Schmidt warned.
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From writing code to replacing coders—AI's next leap is already here
One of Schmidt's most provocative predictions is that AI could make most programming jobs obsolete within a year. He cites advances in recursive self-improvement—where AI systems write and improve their own code using formal systems like Lean—as a key driver of this shift. Currently, AI is already contributing significantly to software development. In Schmidt's words: 'Ten to twenty percent of the code in research labs like OpenAI and Anthropic is now being written by AI itself.'
As these systems continue to evolve, they will not only become faster and more efficient but also begin outperforming even elite graduate-level human mathematicians in areas such as advanced coding and structured reasoning. This presents a foundational change in the role of human labor in tech—moving from creator to supervisor, or potentially being removed from the loop altogether.
Schmidt warns the jump from AGI to ASI could outpace global systems
According to Schmidt, many in Silicon Valley are in agreement that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)—a system capable of human-like reasoning across disciplines will be achieved within the next three to five years. However, he emphasises that AGI is merely a stepping stone.
The more dramatic leap, he says, will occur just a year or two after AGI: the rise of Artificial Superintelligence (ASI). He calls this trajectory the 'San Francisco Consensus'—a term reflecting the growing alignment among tech elites about the short timeline to ASI.
'This occurs within six years, just based on scaling,' Schmidt stated. Unlike earlier technological shifts, the transition to ASI may happen so rapidly and dramatically that traditional systems—governance, legal, economic—may be unable to adapt in time.
Schmidt warns the world is unprepared for the coming age of superintelligence
Despite the potentially transformative—and even existential—implications of ASI, Schmidt points out a critical gap in public awareness and discourse. The issue, he argues, is not just the speed of AI's evolution but the lack of conceptual language and institutional frameworks to engage with it meaningfully.
'There's no language for what happens with the arrival of this,' he remarked.
'This is happening faster than our society, our democracy, our laws will interact.'
In other words, the world's democratic and policy systems are trailing far behind the pace of innovation, creating a dangerous mismatch between technological capability and societal readiness. As AI systems move beyond human capabilities, Schmidt presents two possible paths forward. On one side lies the promise of a technological renaissance, driven by superintelligent systems capable of solving some of humanity's greatest challenges. On the other lies the risk of institutional collapse, ethical crisis, and unprecedented societal upheaval.
'Superintelligence isn't a question of if, but when,' Schmidt seems to caution. And the real danger, he suggests, may be our collective failure to adequately prepare.
Schmidt urges to prepare for ASI before it's too late
Eric Schmidt's warnings are not based on speculative science fiction—they're grounded in conversations happening today among the people building tomorrow's technologies. Whether one agrees with his timeline or not, his message is clear: Artificial Superintelligence is not a distant concept—it is fast becoming a present reality.
As this reality approaches, the world must shift its focus from narrow debates about near-term AI risks to a broader, deeper dialogue about long-term governance, ethics, and preparedness for what could be the most transformative force in human history.