feel the AGI
In plain wordsAn AI-industry catchphrase meaning to grasp, emotionally as well as intellectually, that human-level AI may be arriving soon; it began as a chant inside OpenAI.
A catchphrase meaning to viscerally appreciate that artificial general intelligenceartificial general intelligence, n.: AI that could learn and do almost any mental task a capable adult can, rather than excelling at one narrow job. Experts disagree on the exact bar and on when, or whether, it will arrive. may be near and transformative, as opposed to merely accepting the claim in the abstract. It is used earnestly (a new model release 'made me feel the AGI'), ironically, and to describe people whose plans and behavior have been reshaped by short AI timelinesAI timelines, n.: Forecasts of when AI will reach major milestones, such as matching humans at most work. People with short timelines expect this within years; others expect decades, or never.. The phrase's ring of religious fervor is seized on by critics as evidence of millenarian belief inside AI companies, while insiders use it to mark moments when a demonstration makes capability gains tangible.
Watching the agent fix the build overnight was the first time I really felt the AGI.
Origin
Associated with Ilya Sutskever, then OpenAI's chief scientist, who was reported to lead employees in chanting 'Feel the AGI!' at company gatherings. The practice was described publicly by Karen Hao and Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic in November 2023, amid coverage of Sam Altman's brief ouster, after which the phrase spread across AI social media.
Usage note
A companion meme of 2023–2024, 'What did Ilya see?', speculated that Sutskever's part in the ouster reflected some alarming internal capability; it became shorthand for rumors of secret breakthroughs.
Related
- artificial general intelligenceartificial general intelligence, n.: AI that could learn and do almost any mental task a capable adult can, rather than excelling at one narrow job. Experts disagree on the exact bar and on when, or whether, it will arrive.
- Ilya SutskeverIlya Sutskever, prop. n.: A Russian-born Israeli-Canadian computer scientist who co-built the AlexNet image recognizer, helped found OpenAI and lead its research until 2024, and now heads the startup Safe Superintelligence Inc.
- -pilled-pilled, adj.: A slang word ending meaning someone has been won over to a belief, often suddenly and completely; 'AGI-pilled' means convinced that human-level AI is coming soon.
- AI timelinesAI timelines, n.: Forecasts of when AI will reach major milestones, such as matching humans at most work. People with short timelines expect this within years; others expect decades, or never.
- it's over, we're so backit's over, we're so back, phr.: A meme describing the mood swings of the AI world: one day bad news means 'it's over', the next a new model or result means 'we're so back'.
- OpenAIOpenAI, prop. n.: The American company that makes ChatGPT and the GPT models. It began in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab and is now a for-profit company overseen by a nonprofit foundation.
Mentioned in
AI hypeAI hype, n.: Exaggerated claims about what AI can do or will soon do, made to attract money, attention or customers, which can mislead the public and policymakers., ChatGPT momentChatGPT moment, n.: A phrase for the point when a technology suddenly becomes impressive and widely used, as ChatGPT did in late 2022; people ask when robotics, biology or other fields will get theirs., AGI has been achieved internallyAGI has been achieved internally, phr.: A meme claiming, half-jokingly, that an AI company has secretly built human-level AI and is keeping it hidden; used to tease rumors and hype from AI insiders., crackedcracked, adj.: Tech slang praising someone as exceptionally, almost unfairly, skilled; a 'cracked engineer' is a prodigy who ships remarkable work very fast., it's over, we're so backit's over, we're so back, phr.: A meme describing the mood swings of the AI world: one day bad news means 'it's over', the next a new model or result means 'we're so back'., -pilled-pilled, adj.: A slang word ending meaning someone has been won over to a belief, often suddenly and completely; 'AGI-pilled' means convinced that human-level AI is coming soon., rapture of the nerdsrapture of the nerds, phr.: A mocking nickname for the 'technological singularity', comparing the belief that superintelligent AI will transform the world to the religious idea of the Rapture.