Just a few years ago, talking about an artificial intelligence able to reason, learn and work across many disciplines sounded like a conversation for scientists, futurists and science fiction films. Today, every week, we use systems that write, code, analyze documents, create images, talk by voice and research the Internet for us. That is why, as a sociologist and as an advertiser, the question that interests me most is not technical but human: what changes for us if artificial intelligence stops being good at some tasks and starts being good at almost all of them?
What is AGI?
AGI stands for Artificial General Intelligence. There is no universal definition. OpenAI has described it as highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work. Google DeepMind suggests thinking about it in levels of performance and autonomy rather than a single finish line. The key word is general: the AI we knew specialized in recognizing faces, recommending movies or translating, while AGI points to an intelligence that moves between disciplines and solves problems nobody defined for it in advance.
A sociological reading
Sociology taught me that technology never arrives alone. It lands in societies with inequalities, customs and power structures that already existed. If a machine can do a large share of intellectual work, the conversation stops being only about jobs and becomes one about identity. For generations, many people have defined themselves by what they know how to do. When that knowledge becomes abundant and cheap, the way we value people also changes, along with who has the authority to speak and whom we trust.
Not everyone will arrive at the same time, either. Those with access, education and resources will benefit from these tools first, and those without them may fall even further behind. That gap, more than the technology itself, is what we should be discussing as a society.
What it means for advertising
In advertising, the impact is already here. Producing copy, images and video costs less and less, which leads us to a world saturated with content where the scarce resource will not be the asset but attention. We are also starting to see assistants that search, compare and even buy on people's behalf. If an agent decides which product is best, brands will need to persuade not only a consumer but also be understood by the machines that represent them.
In that scenario, authenticity, reputation and real relationships with communities are worth more than ever. I have said it before: AI doesn't replace advertising judgment. And as I explain in my article on data and people, having more information does not mean understanding people better.
What remains human
Even with increasingly capable systems, some things still depend on us: understanding cultural context, deciding what is ethical, taking responsibility when something goes wrong and knowing why a message connects with one community and not another. Intelligence can be partly automated, but the judgment about what to do with it remains a social decision.
Closing
I don't know exactly when AGI will arrive, or whether someone will one day officially declare it. What I do know is that we are already living through its dress rehearsal. The task for brands, professionals and communities is neither to fear it nor to idealize it, but to prepare with good judgment. If you want to think about how your brand can adapt to this change without losing its human side, let's talk through Consulting.
