OpenAI’s Codex Chief: Human Typing Speed Slows AGI Progress

URGENT UPDATE: OpenAI’s head of Codex, Alexander Embiricos, has identified human typing speed as a significant bottleneck in the race toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). Speaking on Lenny’s Podcast on Sunday, he revealed that the current limitations of human multi-tasking and prompt writing hinder the rapid development of AI technologies.

This revelation underscores the growing urgency within the AI community to accelerate AGI capabilities. Embiricos stated, “If we can rebuild systems to let the agent be default useful, we’ll start unlocking hockey sticks,” referring to the potential for exponential growth in productivity. The notion of “hockey stick growth” describes a scenario where progress remains flat before suddenly surging, and Embiricos expects this to begin as early as 2024.

The implications of this development are massive. As companies race to implement AI solutions, the ability to reduce human intervention in validating AI outputs could redefine productivity benchmarks. “You can have an agent watch all the work you’re doing, but if you don’t have the agent also validating its work, then you’re still bottlenecked,” Embiricos emphasized, highlighting the need for a paradigm shift in how AI systems are designed and utilized.

Embiricos predicts that early adopters will experience a surge in productivity beginning next year, with larger organizations following suit in the years to come. He asserts that the transition to fully automated workflows for various use cases will pave the way for AGI, stating, “That hockey-sticking will be flowing back into the AI labs, and that’s when we’ll basically be at the AGI.”

As the competition to achieve AGI heats up among tech giants, this insight from OpenAI is a critical marker of where the industry is heading. If the barriers of human typing and prompt writing can be overcome, the landscape of work and technology could be transformed dramatically.

Stay tuned for further updates on this developing story as OpenAI and other industry leaders push the boundaries of AI capabilities and seek to redefine what is possible.