Meta aims to develop superintelligence with new lab

Scale AI founder in talks to lead artificial general intelligence research effort

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Meta plans to set up a new AI research lab, according to reports by the New York Times based on four sources. The company wants to focus on research into superintelligence – a hypothetical AI system that would surpass the capabilities of the human brain.

In addition, Meta is reportedly trying to recruit Alexandr Wang for the project. The company is in talks with the 28-year-old founder of Scale AI and is considering a billion-dollar investment in his company, which he launched in 2016. In exchange for this investment, Wang, along with several Scale AI employees, would make the move to Meta. Scale AI works for clients such as OpenAI and Microsoft, among others.

Meta, the parent company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is said to have made significant financial offers to dozens of researchers from renowned AI companies such as OpenAI and Google. The amounts offered range from seven to nine figures. Some researchers are said to have accepted the offer and switched to Meta, although the exact number is unknown.

Superintelligence is considered by leading researchers to be a future goal in the development of artificial intelligence.

Companies such as OpenAI and Google are currently focusing on creating artificial general intelligence (AGI), an AI system that should be capable of doing everything the human brain can do, although there is no clear path to success. If achievable, superintelligence would go even further than AGI in terms of possibilities. Meta has been investing in AI development for more than ten years.

In the US, there is a strong commitment to the development of superintelligence, with major investments and ambitious AI labs pursuing this futuristic goal. In Europe, this is less evident. According to experts, regulation is not the biggest obstacle in Europe, but rather the scale of funding.

However, the EU is making increasingly large investments in AI, for example, the euqai.eu API platform for businesses and the search engine quizi.nl. These services offer a European alternative that focuses on privacy, ethics, and sustainability. It remains to be seen how Europe will fare when it comes to superintelligence in this specific area.

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