In regards to (1) and (2) solid progress is likely to be made on these fronts by I would presume at least the second half of 2018. What I really want to talk about in more depth here is point 3.
However, future AIs, much like humans and the other intelligent systems we’ve produced so far, will contribute to our civilization, and our civilization, in turn, will use them to keep expanding the capabilities of the AIs it produces. AI, in this sense, is no different than computers, or books, or language itself: it’s a technology that empowers our civilization. The advent of superhuman AI will thus be no more of a singularity than the advent of computers, or books, or language. Civilization will develop AI, and just march on. Civilization will eventually transcend what we are now, much like it has transcended what we were 10,000 years ago. It’s a gradual process, not a sudden shift.
Will the superhuman AIs of the future, developed collectively over centuries, have the capability to develop AI greater than themselves? No, no more than any of us can. Answering “yes” would fly in the face of everything we know — again, remember that no human, nor any intelligent entity that we know of, has ever designed anything smarter than itself. What we do is, gradually, collectively, build external problem-solving systems that are greater than ourselves.