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Zeitgeist — a spike by Chris Gathercole
  1. Creators/
  2. Gary Marcus — Marcus on AI/

Sorry, Sam and Elon, we have not reached the Singularity

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  • Core argument: recent singularity claims from Altman, Musk, Hassabis, and Huang are undefined marketing rather than technical reality — “singularity” is “a very easy goalpost to move. It means everything & nothing.”
  • Evidence: Musk has claimed singularity arrival repeatedly since 2017 (“event horizon of the singularity” in Feb 2025, “entered the Singularity” in Jan 2026), undercutting credibility through repetition.
  • Cites the “Klarna Effect” — per the WSJ, companies that boasted about AI-driven layoffs are quietly rehiring because “the costs and limitations of AI now demand that more people be added” — and notes promised price declines from abundance haven’t materialized.
  • References his 2024 bet with Miles Brundage listing ten capabilities true AGI should demonstrate; current systems only clear two, and invokes I.F. Good’s 1965 definition of “ultraintelligent machine” as a bar current systems don’t meet.
  • Practical takeaway: treat CEO singularity claims with skepticism — superintelligence, if it arrives, is unlikely this decade and won’t be a discrete “magic moment.”