Beyond AGI: The Promise of Artificial Community Intelligence

PAUL JOHNSON, PULL.CITY CEO  //  11.5.24

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is a concept that envisions machines reaching human-level intelligence, learning and understanding almost anything independently. The implications fo AGI are provocative, even frightening because of the power it implies: a machine so advanced it could outperform human thought processes.

While AGI remains a sort of obsession among AI doomers and boosters alike, I’ve found thinking about what I call “Artificial Community Intelligence” or ACI more interesting. ACI is fundamentally different in its purpose and design. AGI seeks to reach the pinnacle of intelligence, to match human capability across a range of tasks. ACI is designed with community in mind. It’s purpose-built for the unique challenges and needs of living together, especially in urban spaces.

While AGI is modeled on individual human thought, ACI is modeled on the networks that define human life in communities. It’s not so much about doing things for us but about enabling us to do more together, connecting dots that we might otherwise miss. And while true AGI may or may not emerge in our lifetime, ACI is possible now, grounded in the same social forces that have allowed city neighborhoods, towns, and villages to thrive for centuries.