AI Glossary
What is AGI?
AGI (artificial general intelligence): AGI — artificial general intelligence — is a hypothetical AI that matches or exceeds humans across most intellectual work, not just one narrow skill. It does not exist yet.
In plain English
Today's models are impressive specialists with odd gaps: superhuman at some exams, unreliable at counting the r's in "strawberry". AGI is the claimed destination — one system that can learn and perform essentially any cognitive job. Whether current methods get there, and when, is genuinely contested among experts.
Why it matters
- The stated goal of major AI labs — and the stake in most AI policy debates
- No agreed definition or test: one lab’s "AGI" is another’s marketing
- Timeline predictions range from years to decades to never — hold them all loosely
A concrete example
A useful smell test: when someone says AGI is "almost here" or "impossible", ask which definition they're using. The argument is usually about the word, not the technology.
Related terms
Learning AI from scratch? Start with the free Learn AI course picks, then put it to work with 50 tested prompts — or get the daily 2-minute briefing, free →