Jargon:Superintelligence
1 min read
Say this at the party
“Superintelligence means an AI that is far cleverer than the smartest humans at almost everything. It doesn't exist yet, and people argue about whether it will.”
In plain English
AGI usually means an AI roughly as capable as a person across lots of tasks. Superintelligence is the step after that: an AI that leaves the best humans far behind.
Some people think it could cure diseases and solve huge problems. Others worry we couldn't control something much smarter than us. Many think both could be true.
Several big AI companies now say building it is their goal. Nobody has shown that it is close.
Where it came from
In 1965 the mathematician I. J. Good wrote about an "ultraintelligent machine" that could design even better machines. The philosopher Nick Bostrom popularised the word in his 2014 book Superintelligence, defining it as an intellect that greatly exceeds human thinking in virtually all areas.
See it in action
In 2024 Ilya Sutskever left OpenAI to co-found a startup called Safe Superintelligence, and in 2025 Meta set up a new team called Meta Superintelligence Labs. Neither has shown a superintelligent system.
What people get wrong
- A chatbot that beats you at a quiz isn't superintelligent. Being superhuman at one thing (like chess) is not the same as being superhuman at everything.
- It isn't automatically evil or automatically good. The big debate is about whether we could keep it under control and pointed at good goals.
Go deeper
- ArticleWikipediaSuperintelligenceDefinitions, the history of the idea, and the main arguments for and against worry.
- ArticleWikipediaSuperintelligence: Paths, Dangers, StrategiesA summary of Nick Bostrom's 2014 book, which brought the word into wide use.
- PostFuture of Life InstituteStatement on SuperintelligenceA public statement calling for a pause on building superintelligence until it can be done safely.
- ArticleWikipediaTechnological singularityCovers I. J. Good's 1965 "intelligence explosion" idea and its critics.
Related jargon
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