AGI and ASI

Plain English. AGI — artificial general intelligence — conventionally means a system matching humans across most cognitive work; ASI — superintelligence — one exceeding us. Neither has an agreed operational definition. In practice they are terms of art doing contractual, legislative and marketing work, and the definition shifts with the job it is doing.

Why it moves money. Because things trigger on the words. OpenAI's corporate structure has historically turned on an AGI determination; Sam Altman has floated an internal declaration of AGI by December 2026 — a declaration against an undisclosed internal bar, which is a narrative and fundraising event, not a measurement. At the other end, the Sanders–Casar bill would ban "superintelligence" outright, and its definition — systems that "exhibit or can easily be modified to exhibit" — could reach systems already deployed. Valuations, contracts and now statutes embed definitions nobody shares.

What to watch. Who controls the definition in each document, and what happens when it triggers. Treat any AGI claim that cannot be restated as a measurable bar — tasks, reliability, autonomy — as positioning.

From the signals. OpenAI puts a date on AGI, and Mark rolls his eyes. Sanders and Casar move to ban superintelligence, definition and all.