AI could already solve so many of our problems, so how is “superintelligence” going to improve things?

The article published on Monday by Sam Altman, “The Intelligence Age”, which argues that superintelligence will be within our reach in “a few thousand days” and announcing it as the solution to all humanity’s problems, has generated much comment and criticism, once again sparking debate as to whether AI could evolve to the point where it surpasses the ability of the human mind.

If there is one thing that particularly annoys me, it is terminological discussions, and the one around superintelligence, is one of them. Superintelligence usually means bettering our capabilities in creativity, problem solving, social intelligence and many others. The concept is typically discussed in the context of AI, which at some point in the future exceeds human cognitive abilities significantly.

The philosopher and AI theorist Nick Bostrom defines superintelligence as “an intellect far more intelligent than the best human brains in virtually every field, including scientific creativity, general wisdom and social skills,” an intelligence that would not be limited to specific tasks like today’s AI (capable of excelling in very specific areas such as chess, Go, video games or pattern recognition), but that instead would be general, adaptive and capable of…