In today’s column, I debunk the common myth that if we attain artificial general intelligence (AGI) the resultant AI will be a solo colossus or said-to-be “one big brain”

Let’s talk about it.

This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).

When Catalonian Maria Branyas died in August 2024 at the grand old age of 117 years and 168 days, she was officially the world’s oldest living person.

The body you inhabit is made up of lots of moving parts that need to communicate with each other.

Some of this communication – in the nervous system, for example – takes the form of bioelectrical signals that propagate through the body to trigger the appropriate response.

Now, US researchers have discovered that the epithelial cells that line our skin and organs are able to signal the same way to communicate peril. They just use a long, slow ‘scream’, rather than the rapid-fire communication of neurons.

Scientists have devised a way to store and read data from individual atoms embedded in tiny crystals only a few millimeters in size (where 1 mm is 0.04 inches). If scaled up, it could one day lead to ultra-high density storage systems capable of holding petabytes of data on a single disc — where 1 PB is equivalent to approximately 5,000 4K movies.

Encoding data as 1s and 0s is as old as the entire history of computing, with the only difference being the medium used to store this data — moving from vacuum tubes flashing on and off, tiny electronic transistors, or even compact discs (CDs), with pits in the surface representing 1s and smoothness indicating 0.

Predictions on the dawn of the AI singularity vary wildly but scientists generally say it will come before 2040, according to new analysis, slashing 20 years off previous predictions.

In a week in which the Global Plastics Treaty is being negotiated, researchers from RIKEN & the University of Tokyo unveil a solution for marine pollution.

With Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 2.0, launched in December, the company is making big moves in AI. Brin’s message is clear, the race to AGI is on, and Google plans to win it.

He emphasized that enhancing intelligence models is key to Alibaba’s long-term vision as it shifts towards AI technologies.

This aligns with Alibaba’s declaration as an AI-driven company.

While e-commerce remains central, Alibaba’s cloud services saw strong growth, with revenue rising 13% last quarter. AI-related products within the cloud division posted triple-digit growth.

Everyone is talking about AI. Do you think it will surpass human intelligence? And what consequences will this have?

We need to focus primarily on how artificial intelligence will transform the workforce and job market. For instance, AI will be a key component of humanoid robots’ brains. Tesla is already producing them, and I believe that within the next 5 years, every automotive company is likely to produce their own version. This makes sense because automotive companies already have the assembly lines and engineering expertise to produce all the small components needed to build them. We’re already amazed by what AI can do today—imagine what it will do in 5 or 10 years, and then think about what it could do when integrated into a humanoid robot. It’s already confirmed through commercial orders with current manufacturers that major fast-food franchise chains and other chains, for example, in the transportation sector, will test humanoid robots within their processes. AI is already skilled in programming tasks and will soon be able to enhance itself.

Elon Musk has announced that xAI will launch its large language model (LLM), Grok 3, on Monday at 8:30PM Pacific Time (that’s 10:00AM India time). The billionaire also promised that Grok 3 will be the smartest AI in the world.

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Confirming the launch of Grok 3 on X (formerly Twitter), Musk wrote, “Grok 3 release with live demo on Monday night at 8pm PT. Smartest AI on Earth.”