Microsoft says artificial general intelligence (AGI) could take decades

Brad Smith – the President of Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) says artificial general intelligence or “AGI” is highly unlikely to realise in the near term.

Smith shares his view on AGI

Smith did agree on the need for safety breaks in artificial intelligence especially as it relates to systems that control important infrastructure but added:

There’s absolutely no probability that you’ll see this so-called AGI, where computers are more powerful than people in the next 12 months. It’ll take years, if not many decades.

He made the remarks to reports in the United Kingdom on Thursday.

Earlier in November, the tech behemoth announced an AI chip that it expects will compete with Nvidia Corp. $MSFT is currently up more than 60% versus its year-to-date low in the first week of January.  

Microsoft to invest $3.2 billion in the U.K.

Note that Smith’s comment on AGI is somewhat in contrast with Jensen Huang who recently said at the New York Times Dealbook Conference that artificial intelligence could be “fairly competitive” with human in just five years.

Also on Thursday, Microsoft said it will pump about $3.2 billion in the United Kingdom in pursuit of future growth in AI over the next three years. The investment, it added, will more than double its datacentre footprint in Britain.

Last month, the Nasdaq-listed firm reported solid results for its first financial quarter that Invezz covered in detail here.

Wall Street currently has a consensus “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft Corp