In today’s column, I examine an ongoing debate about who will have access to artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI is purportedly on the horizon and will be AI so advanced that it acts intellectually on par with humans. The question arises as to whether everyone will be able to use AGI or whether only those who can afford to do so will have ready access.

Some ardently insist that if AGI is truly attained, it ought to be considered a worldwide public good, including that AGI would be freely available to all at any time and any place.

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).

Heading Toward AGI And ASI

First, some fundamentals are required to set the stage for this weighty discussion.

There is a great deal of research going on to further advance AI. The general goal is to either reach artificial general intelligence (AGI) or maybe even the outstretched possibility of achieving artificial superintelligence (ASI).

AGI is AI that is considered on par with human intellect and can seemingly match our intelligence. ASI is AI that has gone beyond human intellect and would be superior in many if not all feasible ways. The idea is that ASI would be able to run circles around humans by outthinking us at every turn. For more details on the nature of conventional AI versus AGI and ASI, see my analysis at the link here.

We have not yet attained AGI.

In fact, it is unknown as to whether we will reach AGI, or that maybe AGI will be achievable in decades or perhaps centuries from now. The AGI attainment dates that are floating around are wildly varying and wildly unsubstantiated by any credible evidence or ironclad logic. ASI is even more beyond the pale when it comes to where we are currently with conventional AI.

Immense Capability Of AGI

Imagine how much you could accomplish if you had access to AGI.

AGI would be an amazing intellectual partner. Any decisions that you need to make can be bounced off AGI for feedback and added insights. AGI would be instrumental in your personal life. You might use AGI to teach you new skills or hone your own intellectual capacity. By and large, having AGI at your fingertips will be crucial to how your life proceeds.

The issue is this.

Suppose that AGI is provided by an AI maker that opts to charge for the use of the AGI. This seems like a reasonable approach by the AI maker since they undoubtedly want to recoup their investment made in devising AGI. Plus, they will have ongoing costs such as the running of AGI on expensive servers in costly data centers, along with doing upgrades and maintenance on AGI.

As they say, to the victor go the spoils.

Those who can afford to pay for AGI usage will have a leg up on everyone else. We will descend into a society of the AGI haves and the AGI have-nots. Things will get even worse since the AGI haves will presumably flourish in new ways and far outpace the AGI have-nots. Humans armed with AGI will excel while the rest of the populace is at a distinct disadvantage.

Some believe that if that’s how the post-AGI era plays out, something demonstrative would need to be done. We can’t simply allow the world to be divided into those that can afford AGI and those that cannot do so.

There must be a means to figure this out in some balancing way.

AGI As A Designated Public Good

One burgeoning idea is that AGI should be designated as an international public good.

If we reach AGI, no matter whether by an AI maker or some governmental entity or however reached, the AGI must be globally declared as a public good for all. There must be no barriers to the use of AGI. People everywhere are to have full and equal access to AGI. Period, end of story.

How might this be undertaken?

Some indicate that AGI should be handed over to the United Nations. The UN would be tasked with making sure that access to AGI was a worldwide facility. People in all nations and anywhere on the planet would readily be provided a login and full access to AGI. They could use AGI as much as they desired.

Furthermore, since there will undoubtedly be people who don’t know about AGI or don’t have equipment such as smartphones or Internet access, the UN would perform a global educational effort to get people up-to-speed. This would include providing equipment such as a smartphone and the network capacity needed to utilize AGI.

The AI maker that attained AGI would be given some compensation for their accomplishment but might be cut out of future compensation under the notion of a government taking of AGI from the AI maker. In an imminent domain type of action, their devised AGI would be taken from them and placed into a special infrastructure established to globally enable access to the AGI.

Lots of variations are being tossed around about whether the originating maker of AGI would be allowed to keep AGI and run it on behalf of the world or be set to the side as a result of the governmental taking of AGI. Pros and cons are hotly debated.

Worries About Human-AGI Evildoing

Wait for a second, some bellow vociferously. If everyone has ready access to AGI, at no cost and no barrier to usage, we are opening a Pandora’s box.

Consider this scenario. An evildoer opts to access AGI. They can do so without any cost concerns. So, they tell AGI to come up with a biochemical weapon. AGI runs and runs, inventing a new biochemical weapon that nobody knows about. The evildoer thanks AGI and proceeds to construct the weapon. They can use it to blackmail the world.

Not good.

One retort to this worry is that we would stridently instruct AGI to not undertake any effort that would be construed as detrimental to humankind. Thus, when someone tries to go down the evil route, AGI would stop them cold. The AGI would indicate that their request is not allowed.

But suppose an evildoer manages to trick AGI into aiding an evildoing plot. Perhaps the evildoer asks for something seemingly innocuous but is part of a subtle step in a larger evil plan. Step by step, they get AGI to give them solutions that can be ultimately pieced together into a larger evil purpose. The AGI was not the wiser for it.

It would be very challenging to somehow get AGI to in an ironclad fashion never reveal or respond in a manner that would completely avert all potential evildoing.

Registering People That Use AGI

A related facet is that some say we would want to make sure that the people using AGI are identifiable. In other words, even if ready access to all is provided, we should still require people to identify who they are. We cannot allow people to wantonly or anonymously use AGI.

Each person ought to be responsible for how they use AGI.

Whoa, comes the reply, if you require identification to use AGI, that’s an entirely different can of worms. People will naturally suspect that the AGI is going to monitor them. In turn, the AGI might tattle on them to government authorities. This is a dire pathway.

It would also be a somewhat impractical notion anyway. What kind of identification would be used? The identification could be faked. Some point out that with the latest high-tech, such as eyeball scans, presumably people could be distinctly and suitably identified.

Creating A Worldwide AGI Agency-Entity

There are those that express qualms about handing over AGI to the UN. The concern is that the UN might not be the most suitable choice to fully control and run AGI.

A suggested alternative is to establish a new entity that would oversee AGI. This would be a means of starting fresh. No prior baggage. The new agency entity would be formulated from the ground up as having the sole purpose of managing AGI.

Who would pay for this and how would the new entity be globally governed?

Various proposed approaches are being floated. Perhaps every country in the world would need to pay into a special fund for AGI. The monies would go to the ongoing costs of running AGI, along with administering the use of AGI. The new agency entity wouldn’t necessarily be expected to drive a profit and would be set up as a non-profit, perhaps as an NGO.

That sounds solid, but again there are those who doubt this new agency would be as beneficial and supportive as one might assume. For example, the agency might become corrupt and those running AGI start to use the AGI for their own nefarious purposes. The rest of the world might not know what’s happening.

A reply to this concern is that there would be auditors that routinely examine the new agency. They would report to the world at large. This would presumably keep the AGI-managing entity on the up and up.

Round and round these arguments go.

Universal Access To AGI

How do you feel about the claim that universal access to AGI is a must-do?

There are those who fall into the camp that AGI access must absolutely be a universal right. Nothing other than full universal access is to be undertaken. All humans deserve access to AGI.

Others say that AGI access is a privilege and isn’t necessarily going to be applicable to everyone. That’s the way the ball bounces. The world doesn’t owe everyone access to AGI.

Another variation is that we might have tiered access to AGI. Perhaps there would be AGI access at a minimum level for all, including associated constraints on usage, and then above that tier would be AGI usage with more open-ended facilities.

It’s a tough question.

At this time, it is a theoretical question since we don’t yet have AGI. That being said, there are predictions that we might have AGI in the next several years, perhaps by 2030 or so. The question is looming, and we probably should be figuring out what we are going to do when the moment arrives (assuming we do attain AGI).

Take a few reflective moments to ascertain where you stand on the thorny issue.

A final thought for now might be spurred by the famous line of Margaret Fuller, noted American journalist in the early 1800s: “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”