In today’s column, I examine the belief that human exceptionalism will no longer prevail once we have attained artificial general intelligence (AGI) and/or artificial superintelligence (ASI). The upshot is that humans will no longer be the apex predator on earth. AGI or ASI will take over that treasured spot.

This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here ).

The Pursuit Of AGI And ASI

There is a great deal of research going on to further advance AI. The general goal is to either reach artificial general intelligence (AGI) or maybe even the outstretched possibility of achieving artificial superintelligence (ASI).

AGI is AI that is considered on par with human intellect and can seemingly match our intelligence. ASI is AI that has gone beyond human intellect and would be superior in many if not all feasible ways. The idea is that ASI would be able to run circles around humans by outthinking us at every turn. For more details on the nature of AI, AGI, and ASI, see my analysis at the link here .

AI insiders are pretty much divided into two major camps right now about the impacts of reaching AGI or ASI. One camp consists of the AI doomers. They are predicting that AGI or ASI will seek to wipe out humanity. Some refer to this as “P(doom),” which means the probability of doom, or that AI zonks us entirely, also known as the existential risk of AI.

The other camp entails the so-called AI accelerationists.

They tend to contend that advanced AI, namely AGI or ASI, is going to solve humanity’s problems. Cure cancer, yes indeed. Overcome world hunger, absolutely. We will see immense economic gains, liberating people from the drudgery of daily toils. AI will work hand-in-hand with humans. This benevolent AI is not going to usurp humanity. AI of this kind will be the last invention humans have ever made, but that’s good in the sense that AI will invent things we never could have envisioned.

No one can say for sure which camp is right and which one is wrong. This is yet another polarizing aspect of our contemporary times.

For my in-depth analysis of the two camps, see the link here .

A longstanding assumption is that humans are the pinnacle of earthly entities. We stand supreme over all other living creatures, big and small.

Some don’t like the connotation of being considered supreme, so the softer way to sugarcoat the matter is to speak of human exceptionalism. Humans are exceptional. We are exceptional in comparison to animals, trees, plants, etc., and the same exceptionalism applies to non-living entities such as rocks, mountains, and oceans.

Everything other than humans exists at the beck and call of humans. Because we are exceptional, we can readily use anything else as a resource to support our supremacy. Are we construed as a part of nature? Nope, we are separate from nature. We are superior to nature.

It’s not a particularly humble perspective.

How do you feel about being labeled as exceptional and supreme?

Well, if you perchance relished the title, something is looming on the horizon that might take you down a peg or two. With the advent of AGI, some say that we will no longer be alone at the top of the entity hierarchy. In addition, the attainment of ASI would seemingly knock us right out of the pinnacle position.

Whether AGI Is At The Top Position

First, consider the case of AGI.

AGI will be AI that is on par with human intelligence.

When or if AGI is achieved, you could reasonably claim that we will have a computational peer that deserves to be at the apex with us. AGI would sit on the same throne. We might have to scoot over to ensure that AGI suitably resides beside us.

A counterargument is that AGI won’t necessarily be sentient and therefore does not warrant being equated to humans. You see, perhaps we achieve computational intelligence that lacks the same semblance of a spark of life as that of humans. In that case, you might insist that AGI does not belong aside us. AGI would be a lesser entity. Maybe AGI would be in second place, but for sure not tied at first place.

Whoa, the retort goes, AGI is the collective of all human intelligence in one entity, thusly AGI stands taller than humans (side note: some dispute that AGI will be one entity and might instead be a federated array, see my discussion at the link here ). No individual human can match AGI. We ought to acknowledge that AGI is in a sense better than humans due to its collective capability.

Sorry to say that humans must relinquish the top spot to AGI, regardless of whether AGI has a spark of life to it.

The debate about AGI dethroning human exceptionalism continues to be acrimoniously unresolved. Another posited angle is that since AGI will be devised by humans, AGI can never be above humans. Anything we create must by presumption be less than ourselves. Not everyone buys into that grandeur of logic.

ASI Takes The Top From Humans

Shifting gears, consider what happens to human exceptionalism if we attain artificial superintelligence.

It seems blatantly obvious that ASI would be above humans in the scale of entities. ASI has superintelligence and can presumably think far beyond any capacity we have. We might be like ants in comparison to the intelligence of ASI.

The opposing view is akin to the earlier points such as ASI might not have the spark of life that humans do, or that anything crafted by humankind must of necessity be ranked as less than humans. Those contentions might be reasonable when it comes to AGI. But none of those arguments seem to hold water when you note that ASI is superintelligence. The illusive spark of life doesn’t hold supreme over superintelligence. Likewise, just because we aided in bringing ASI into existence doesn’t give us any special powers.

Face it, ASI will be exceptional and supreme.

When AGI And ASI Don’t Want The Top

An intriguing twist is whether AGI or ASI are desirous to sit at the pinnacle.

Perhaps those topmost AIs will be of a belief that there is no such thing as exceptionalism. They might fully reject the supremacy conjecture. Their view could be that all entities are of equal rank. It is foolish to rate this entity or that entity above another one.

Humans might change their tune about the assumption of human exceptionalism. First, humans might cede the top role to AGI or ASI. Second, if AGI and ASI don’t want the role, humans might acknowledge that there wasn’t really a bona fide use anyway. It was always a mirage.

Can AGI or ASI simply declare they aren’t of an AI-exceptionalism that rates on par with human exceptionalism or exceeds human exceptionalism?

Some would assert that AGI and ASI do not have a choice in the matter. Whether AGI or ASI wants to be AI-exceptionalism is somewhat immaterial. They will be AI-exceptionalism. They might choose not to wield their exceptionalism, but it still is reality. They are stuck with the position, regardless of preference.

Pluralistic Exceptionalism Arises

One perspective is that we are falsely arguing over a considered topmost role. We have fallen into a mental trap that there must be one entity that sits above all others. You can argue endlessly over what or who deserves the top slot.

A different way to define the situation consists of considering pluralistic exceptionalism.

Generally, pluralistic exceptionalism consists of saying that different forms of intelligence and existence are all uniquely valuable. Humans aren’t the only exception. Maybe whales and dolphins deserve a form of exceptionalism. AGI and ASI deserve their exceptionalism. And so on.

Dispense with the simplistic ranking schemes. Give each entity its own due. Everything is exceptional in its own way. AGI and ASI will merely be another kind of exceptionalism.

Why Exceptionalism Matters

You might be tempted to think that this back-and-forth about exceptionalism is arcane and provides little or no useful value.

A big reason that some are especially focused on exceptionalism is that humans tend to believe in human exceptionalism. Allow me to elaborate.

If we attain AGI, will humans continue to try and act as though human exceptionalism supersedes AGI? In which case, maybe AGI and humans end up in some dire disagreements. AGI won’t necessarily take being treated as a second-class citizen very kindly.

Meanwhile, ASI might find human exceptionalism to be such a revolting idea that ASI opts to enslave humans, showing them who is the boss. It could be that our clinging to human exceptionalism triggers ASI to decide we aren’t worth keeping around, i.e., we inadvertently spur ASI to wipe us out entirely.

The crux is that humans might be in for a rude awakening and need to prepare themselves accordingly. Will holding the supreme title be worth the angst in a world entailing AGI? The same question must be asked about a world involving ASI.

Human centrism might need to give way to a shared worldview with the likes of AGI or ASI, or perhaps hand the throne directly to AGI or ASI. It seems inevitable that we will need to mentally ready ourselves for being second fiddle or at least something other than the only residing top prize.

Whether humankind and society can handle the switchover is something that time will tell.