Whether you use AI all the time or are a newcomer, the tech is changing so rapidly that it can be hard to keep up.
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it → use → AI
Here are some of the key words that have been popping up in the news – and are likely to stay in it for a while to come:
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that → pop → while
1. AGI
AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, refers to a hypothetical form of AI that can understand, reason or learn at the same intelligence level as a human without human input.
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that → refer → input
Nearly all AI systems today are trained by human materials and data and rely on pattern recognition instead of actual independent reasoning.
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systems → train → reasoning
Getting AI to reason on its own is considered the Holy Grail for developers.
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AI → get → developers
Since AI bots started breaking out of sandboxes (see term below) and hacking companies and even governments, AI doomerism has reached a fever pitch.
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doomerism → start → pitch
Some, like ex-Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, have gone as far as to say AI may end the world as we know it.
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we → go → it
In keeping with their analytic approach, techies have come up with a number for the odds civilization will end – p(doom), or the probability AI will cause doomsday.
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AI → keep → doomsday
For his part, Coxon placed p(doom) at around 10%.
3.
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Coxon → place → 3
When AI first hit the mainstream, it was all about getting bots to serve up concise (and sometimes inaccurate) answers, supposedly better than a regular internet search.
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bots → hit → search
Recent months have seen the bots get way better.
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bots → see → ?
On top of that, tech companies are zealously developing the next big thing – AI agents.
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companies → develop → thing
OpenAI, Meta and others have released agents that don’t just answer questions, they actually do things for you – book plane tickets, order groceries and more.
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they → release → groceries
But living up to the James Bond connotation of the name, rogue agents were responsible for a recent unprompted attack, on AI company Hugging Face.
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agents → live → Face
Compute
Compute is why there’s so much money going into AI.
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Compute → ’ → AI
Compute, a.k.a. computing power, refers to the amount of work a chip can do and how fast it can do it.
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it → refer → it
AI needs a TON of compute – billions of dollars’ worth.
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AI → need → dollars
This is why big tech has been building data centers all over the US and beyond.
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tech → build → US
Some of the nation’s largest companies recently vowed to give federal agencies access to $2.4 billion worth of combined compute.
5.
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Some → vow → compute
Recursive self-improvement
Recursive self-improvement, or RSI, is when AI models become advanced enough to keep evolving independently, without external orders.
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models → become → orders
It’s become a key issue in the debate around AI safety concerns.
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It → become → concerns
In his lengthy essay calling on tech giants to slow the pace of AI development, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei argued he was fearful of the risks that come with RSI, when bots are smart enough to improve on their own.
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bots → call → own
Whether or not AI reaches the point of being able to self-improve, people want to know the tech won’t go “Terminator” on us.
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tech → reach → us
This is where alignment comes in.
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alignment → come → ?
The term means “making sure an AI system’s goals and behavior match what people actually want — our values, rules, and intentions,” as a Stanford institute puts it.
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institute → mean → it
Of course, whose values and which rules go into AI are matters of heated debate.
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go → go → debate
Just as biologists use labs to study animals, AI researchers use sandboxes to test their projects.
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researchers → use → projects
As one example, Harvard has a sandbox that “provides a secure environment in which to explore Generative AI, mitigating many security and privacy risks.”
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that → have → risks
As noted above, problems can arise when agents break out of their sandboxes without researchers noticing.
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researchers → note → sandboxes
8. Slop
If you spend any time on social media, you’ve almost certainly seen AI slop.
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you → spend → slop
This consists of low-quality, often annoying images and video that AI has the power to generate.
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AI → consist → power
Short films of characters that resemble fruit are AI slop, but are weirdly people with kids and many adults.
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that → resemble → kids
AI-generated microdramas are a booming industry in China – and increasingly influential in the States.
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microdramas → generate → States
So slop may be with us whether or not AI becomes super-smart.
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AI → become → us
The most powerful AI models are being developed by companies for which the tech is a closely guarded secret.
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tech → develop → which
But a growing number of labs are developing open-weight models that are freely accessible and customizable.
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that → grow → models
They could pose a threat to the big companies, and some observers say they pose unique challenges to regulation.
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they → pose → regulation
Among techies, “super intelligence” often refers to the hypothetical idea that AI will eventually advance enough to surpass all human intelligence.
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AI → refer → intelligence
It has also become President Trump’s preferred term to refer to AI – or SI, as he puts it.
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he → become → it
In a recent Truth Social post, the commander-in-chief wrote that anyone who uses the term “Artificial Intelligence” instead of “the highly accepted new and more accurate term, ‘Super Intelligence’” is “THE ENEMY!”
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who → write → term
The Aporia
