What is the difference between AGI and just AI? To answer this question, first we must consider what the purpose of AGI is, what is it we are trying to build? At its core, the race to build AGI is a project to build machines that are intelligent in the sorts of ways humans are and can do the same things as humans given similar resources and constraints.
From this we must then we must answer, what is it that humans do that we want to replicate in machines? Well, what is it that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom? It is tool use. Humans use tools and create tools to solve their problems and achieve their goals. Tools extend the capabilities of humans to achieve ends that they otherwise would not be capable of.
Tools are not simply physical artefacts like a hammer or spoon. Language is a tool for communication. Stories are tools to transmit knowledge or to entertain. Formal education is a tool to reproduce knowledge in other minds. The scientific process is a tool to uncover the mechanisms through which the universe functions.
Given all of this, we can now answer the first questions that were raised. What is it that separates AGI from AI? What is it that we want to replicate in machines? It all hinges on tools. AI as it is commonly referred to and spoken about is a tool for humans to use. By contrast, AGI is a tool user, a tool maker, a tool improver. Just like humans—it can use the same tools we do or create new ones that we could use in turn.
And just like in humans, tool usage requires intention on behalf of the one wielding it. That’s why the phrase “use the right tool for the job” exists, because for any given problem or goal there exist innumerable tools one could use to accomplish the objective. It might even be the case that the right tool is knowing when to recognize that a problem or goal doesn’t need to be overcome but can instead be bypassed.
One final word. This definition of AGI can also be extended to define ASI, as machines that use or create tools that require an understanding or skill that is beyond human ken.
The Opt-In Revolution 