Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi says AGI is already here, and the real job is making it useful

Silicon Valley has spent years arguing about when artificial general intelligence will arrive. Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi thinks the argument is over. In a conversation published by a16z, Ghodsi said AI already has enough intelligence. The harder problem, in his view, is getting companies to put that intelligence to productive use in ordinary work. The AGI finish line, by an older measuring stick Ghodsi’s claim rests on a specific yardstick. He argues AGI has effectively arrived when judged by the definitions people used before 2022: AI that performs at or above human intellectual ability across a range of fields. His bigger point is about what is missing. According to Ghodsi, the bottleneck is no longer intelligence. It is context. Put simply, a brilliant new hire is useless if nobody gives them access to the files, the systems, or the history of the business. Ghodsi wants enterprises to connect AI models to their proprietary data and operational systems so the technology can do real tasks, rather than sitting inside a chat window answering questions. “So many aspects of our lives are going to change over the next twenty years.” Ghodsi also framed the shift around people, not just ...