According to the latest report from The Information, Microsoft and OpenAI have a very specific and internal definition of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which is based on the profitability of the startup. According to this definition, OpenAI is still several years away from achieving AGI.
Image source note: Image generated by AI, image licensed from service provider Midjourney
Reportedly, the two companies signed an agreement last year stating that AGI is only considered achieved when the AI systems developed by OpenAI can generate at least $100 billion in profit. This is far from the strict technical and philosophical definitions of AGI that many people anticipate.
This year, OpenAI is expected to lose billions of dollars, and the company has informed investors that it will not be profitable until 2029.
This detail is important because when OpenAI reaches AGI, Microsoft will lose access to OpenAI's technology. AGI is a vague term that means different things to different people. Some speculate that OpenAI will announce the achievement of AGI as soon as possible to eliminate competition from Microsoft, but this agreement means that Microsoft may have access to OpenAI's models for the next decade or longer.
Last week, there was debate about whether OpenAI's o3 model represents a significant step toward AGI. While the performance of o3 may surpass that of other AI models, it also comes with enormous computational costs, which is bad news for OpenAI and Microsoft's profit-centered definition of AGI.
Key Points:
💼 Microsoft and OpenAI define AGI as an AI system that can generate at least $100 billion in profit.
📉 OpenAI expects to lose billions of dollars this year and does not anticipate profitability before 2029.
🤖 Microsoft may have access to OpenAI's technology for the next decade or longer.
