AI companies are betting on fast progress

Artificial intelligence companies bet the technology will start changing our lives in important ways soon.

Microsoft’s AI chief said personal AI assistants, “co-pilots” capable of managing diaries and organizing projects, are about a year away, while OpenAI said systems capable of much more human-like interactions will arrive at about the same time. AI is changing scientific research, too: DeepMind and the pharma company BioNTech both announced AI-powered lab tools, while OpenAI GPT models outperformed humans on MRI cancer diagnoses and did better than PhD-holders on standardized science tests.

But some in the industry are issuing warnings: A quantum computer scientist who used to work with OpenAI on safety expressed concern over the speed of change, counseling “humility” over the “magnitude of civilizational transition that’s about to occur.”