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Monnok t1_ja28d43 wrote

There is a pretty widely accepted and specific definition for general AI... but I don't like it. It's basically a list of simple things the human brain can do that computers didn't happen to be able to do yet in like 1987. I think it's a mostly unhelpful definition.

I think "General Artificial Intelligence" really does conjure some vaguely shared cultural understanding laced with a tinge of fear for most people... but that the official definition misses the heart of the matter.

Instead, I always used to want to define General AI as a program that:

  1. Exits primarily to author other programs, and

  2. Actively alters its own programming to become better at authoring other programs

I always thought this captured the heart of the runaway-train fear that we all sorta share... without a program having to necessarily already be a runaway-train to qualify.

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ChuckFarkley t1_ja3zom1 wrote

By some definitions, your description of GAI also qualifies as being spiritual, esp. Maintaining and improving its own code.

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