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Meta's Promise of Personal Super Intelligence

  • Writer: Yoshi Soornack
    Yoshi Soornack
  • Aug 2
  • 4 min read

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Just last week, Mark Zuckerberg spoke out on his risky bets for "personal super intelligence." This pivot, while framed as a democratizing force for human potential, raises critical questions about technological safety, commercial imperatives, and the future of open-source AI development. let's get stuck in.


The New Frontier: Personal Superintelligence

In a recent blog post and subsequent earnings call, Zuckerberg outlined his plan to build what he calls "personal super intelligence for everyone in the world." He describes this as an AI that is not a generic tool but an entity that "knows you deeply," acting as a constant companion to help you achieve your personal and professional goals. The primary form factor for this intelligence, he suggests, will not be a smartphone or a computer, but rather something more intimate and integrated: wearable devices like smart glasses. These devices would "see what we see, hear what we hear, and interact with us throughout the day," according to Zuckerberg, creating a seamless interface for this highly personalized AI. This announcement comes as Meta’s Reality Labs division, which houses its AR/VR efforts, continues to post significant quarterly losses, suggesting a critical need for a new narrative to justify massive investment.


The Rhetorical Shift from AGI to ASI

The discourse from both Meta and OpenAI’s Sam Altman has undergone a subtle but significant change, seemingly leapfrogging the public conversation around AGI to focus directly on "superintelligence" or ASI. AGI is generally defined as an AI with human-level cognitive abilities across a broad range of tasks. ASI, on the other hand, is a theoretical intelligence that vastly surpasses human intellect in virtually every domain.


The question is whether this shift is a clever rhetorical device to excite investors and attract top talent, or if it signals foresight of a technological breakthrough. With Meta offering "astronomical compensation packages" to poach researchers from competitors, the company is under immense pressure to deliver on these sky-high promises. The pursuit of ASI, with its promise of a revolutionary leap beyond current capabilities, provides a compelling justification for these massive expenditures on talent and the billions being funneled into AI infrastructure. It's a grand vision designed to secure the long-term investment required to build the future of AI in the face of significant commercial pressure.


From Openness to a Hard Takeoff

Zuckerberg has historically been a champion of open-source AI, most notably with the Llama series of models. However, the pursuit of ASI may necessitate a profound shift towards a more closed, proprietary model. The logic is simple: there is no prize for second place. The first company to achieve ASI would not just win a market share; it would effectively become the single most powerful entity on the planet. This immense incentive to win the race first means a hard-takeoff scenario becomes not just a possibility, but a commercial imperative.


This brings to my mind a powerful scene from the film Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer, having overseen the creation of the atomic bomb, signals the release of the weapon over Hiroshima. In that moment, he didn't truly know what would happen next, what the full consequences would be, and yet he gave the order. Similarly, a "hard takeoff" in AI, where a superintelligence rapidly self-improves beyond human comprehension, presents a terrifying unknown. The creator of such a system would have an incredible responsibility to control their creation with unimaginable speed and acuity, with the future of humanity hanging in the balance.


The Ever Shaky Geopolitics

This potential pivot away from an open philosophy also has major geopolitical implications. While Meta, historically the West's most prominent open AI lab, might be moving toward a closed model, nations like China are leading the charge in open-source AI development. This dynamic could create a dangerous contradiction with the US's own "AI Action Plan," which emphasizes the importance of an open and interoperable AI ecosystem." As the race for superintelligence accelerates, the world's largest powers are moving in opposite directions, with each path carrying its own set of immense rewards and existential risks.


To takeaway

Meta's "Superintelligence Gambit" represents a high-stakes bet on the future of technology, business, and humanity itself. The company is facing immense pressure to innovate and justify its vast expenditures, and the pivot to a more ambitious, "personal superintelligence" narrative is a calculated move to secure its position in a fiercely competitive market. However, this strategy is fraught with risk. The shift away from an open-source model towards a proprietary, closed system not only impacts the broader AI ecosystem but also raises profound questions about safety, alignment, and the concentration of power. As we stand at the precipice of a hard takeoff, the world's major powers are making moves that could define the next century. Whether this gambit results in a utopian future of empowered individuals or a dystopian one of corporate-controlled intelligence remains to be seen. The stakes, it seems, have never been higher.


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