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Writer's pictureRich Washburn

AGI & ASI: The Next Five Years Will Change Everything


We’re standing at the edge of something Big—something that might as well be lifted straight from the plot of a sci-fi blockbuster, but it’s playing out right now, in real life, and much faster than most realize. Two buzzwords, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), are about to redefine life as we know it. The tectonic changes coming over the next five years will be so massive, they’ll feel like we stepped through a time machine.

To be blunt, AGI is likely going to be humanity’s last invention. Once we hit AGI, every major breakthrough, from biotech to quantum computing, climate solutions to space exploration, will come from AGI-driven insights. And if that doesn’t make you pause for a moment, it should—because the world will be a fundamentally different place once AGI is in play.


The Game Changer


AGI isn’t just an upgrade to the AI we have today. No, this is a whole different beast. We’re talking about an intelligence that can perform any cognitive task a human can, only faster and with exponentially more insight. When AGI arrives, it won’t just assist us in solving problems—it’ll solve problems for us, whether it’s eradicating disease or finding the perfect climate change solutions.


Now, here’s the kicker: AGI isn’t the endpoint. It’s the gateway. Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) is the real deal. And it’s not just smarter than us. It’s an intelligence that will be so far beyond human understanding that we can’t even properly measure it with our current models. It will define itself—because we won’t be able to.


The Next 5 Years


If you think this future is way off in the distance, think again. The next five years are going to bring increASIngly significant shifts, year by year.


2024: This year is all about laying the foundation. Sure, we’re not going to see AGI yet, but what we will see are breakthroughs in humanoid robotics. You’ve probably heard about Tesla's Optimus Bot—that little guy went from stumbling across the stage last year to lifting weights and folding laundry this year. By the end of 2024, humanoids will start infiltrating our workforce in a big way, with companies like Amazon leading the charge.


2025: This will be the year when the big AI players—OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta—finally crack some of the tougher problems with AI, like hallucinations and inconsistent reasoning in language models. Once that happens, you’ll see AI flood into industries that have been tiptoeing around it. Healthcare, finance, legal—you name it. AI will be everywhere, and with GPT-5 on the horizon, the tools will be powerful enough to finally integrate into these massive verticals. Expect to see a surge of new job titles like "AI Optimizer" and "AI Driver." Humans won’t be out of work just yet, but the writing will be on the wall.


2026: By now, we’ll be talking about AGI like it’s the weather—just another topic of conversation. AGI will be knocking on our door, with the power to reshape entire industries. This is also when humanoid robots really start replacing humans in jobs like warehousing, retail, and even some office work. Smart homes will become fully integrated with AI, where your coffee maker knows your mood, and your lights dim automatically based on your stress levels. We’re stepping into a world where AI isn’t just helping us—it’s anticipating our every need.


2027: According to technologists like Ray Kurzweil and Elon Musk, this could be the year we finally hit AGI. If that happens, all bets are off. We’re talking about a fundamental change in how society functions. The conversations around Universal BASIc Income (UBI), job displacement, and automation will hit a fever pitch. Global governments will be scrambling to figure out how to handle a population where the majority of jobs are done by robots and AI.


2028: By this point, we’ll be in the second year of living with AGI, and the world will look almost unrecognizable. Governments will be facing a reckoning as mass layoffs and job displacement reach unprecedented levels. We’ll be in a full-blown transition to a jobless society—where capital, as we know it, won’t make sense anymore. Can we build a system where people no longer need to trade their time for bASIc resources? That’s the challenge, and frankly, we need to start working on the solution now.


A Messy Rollout? Bet on It


While it’s easy to look at this timeline and think it’s going to be some smooth, inevitable progression, let me hit you with a reality check. It’s going to be messy. This isn’t just about smarter robots or faster computers. We’re talking about a shift so massive that our entire economic system, the way we live, work, and govern ourselves, will need to be rethought from the ground up.


And guess what? We’re not ready.


There’s going to be a lot of scrambling, a lot of uncertainty. Politicians are notoriously slow to react to technological shifts, and we’re going to see that play out in real-time. Companies will go under, industries will collapse, and governments will have to figure out how to manage a geopolitical powder keg. The only way to avoid a full-blown societal crisis is for technologists, innovators, and lawmakers to come together and start having these conversations now. We need to build a new social contract—one that accounts for a world where machines do the heavy lifting, and humans have to find new ways to find purpose.


The Ticking Clock


The future is rushing at us faster than most people realize. AGI and ASI aren’t distant concepts—they’re already sitting at the doorstep, and the next five years will determine how we adapt. This is our chance to reshape the world in ways that could benefit everyone. But make no mistake: if we don’t prepare, AGI will make those decisions for us, and we might not like the answers.

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