'We should regard it as a privilege to be stepping stones to higher things': How Arthur C Clarke predicted the rise of AGI and the looming demise of humanity back in 1964

Date:
Sat, 21 Mar 2026 17:05:00 +0000

Description:
From loose ideas of 3D printing to artificial general intelligence (AGI), Arthur C. Clarke made some spooky predictions way back in 1964

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter While debate over the timeline or even the potential for artificial general intelligence (AGI) rages on in 2026, one futurist may have predicted the breakthrough more than 60 years ago.

Noted British science fiction writer and futurist Arthur C. Clarke touted the arrival of AGI during an interview at the 1964 Worlds Fair in New York City. Speaking to the BBC at the time, Clarkes sweeping interview predicted everything from "replicator" tools which can make an exact copy of anything (3D printing, perhaps?) to the creation of intelligent and useful servants among the other animals on this planet. Article continues below You may like What will people do in the year 2050, given the enormous intellectual power computers are likely to have?: The man Google calls the spiritual father of
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Artificial Intelligence was first coined 71 years ago but sadly without the legendary visionary soul who imagined it Before The Matrix and The
Terminator, there was 'The Creation of the Humanoids' how an obscure 1962 B-movie set the scene for robot takeover and introduced the concept of centralized intelligence Great apes, dolphins, and whales were all noted as potential servants in this regard, according to Clarke. Suffice to say this prediction hasnt materialized. What does stand out, however, are his predictions about the future of intelligent machines. The most intelligent inhabitants of that future world wont be men or monkeys, he said. Theyll be machines, the remote descendants of todays computers.

Present-day electronic brains are complete morons, but this will not be true in another generation. They will start to think, and eventually, they will completely out-think their makers.

Clarke pondered whether this prospect was depressing, but noted that advances in technology on this front represent the next evolutionary step in humanitys journey. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

We superseded the Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal men, and we presume were an improvement, he added.

We should regard it as a privilege to be stepping stones to higher things. I suspect that organic evolution has about come to its end, and we are now at the beginning of inorganic or mechanical evolution, which will be thousands
of times swifter. The AGI conundrum The debate over whether AGI is even attainable has raged for some. While typically confined to the realms of science fiction, the advent of generative AI in late 2022 once again brought the topic back to the fore. What to read next 2025 was the year AI grew up. How will AI evolve in 2026? I tried to tell you about living in AI Time this essay nails its harsh reality, and here's why we're not truly screwed
ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude predict AI's future

Notably, debate over the actual definition of AGI is a key sticking point for many in the industry, and society more broadly. By Googles definition , for example, AGI refers to:

The hypothetical intelligence of a machine that possesses the ability to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can. It is a
type of artificial intelligence (AI) that aims to mimic the cognitive abilities of the human brain.

Taking this into account, its safe to say that humanity hasnt reached AGI quite yet, or is anywhere close to reaching that goal. But major industry players such as OpenAI insist that reaching AGI is their ultimate end goal.

In a 2025 blog post last year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reflected on the
companys pursuit of this so far elusive moment, noting that progress is being made at a nominal pace.

We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it, Altman wrote.

During a September 2025 interview at the WELT AI Summit, Altman once again banged the drum for an imminent AGI breakthrough, claiming that AI will surpass human intelligence by 2030.

Its worth noting that OpenAIs own definition of AGI differs from that of the aforementioned Google - a fact that underscores the conflicting outlook on this subject.

OpenAI defines AGI as a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work. That definition might, at least in some circles, be a rather low bar to set - especially given advances in AI over
the last 18 months. The path to AGI is becoming clearer The advent of agentic AI suggests that progress by OpenAIs definition is being made to some extent. Rather than traditional AI assistants rolled out by big tech providers during the early days of the generative AI boom, agents are capable of autonomously conducting tasks on behalf of human workers.

That marked a step change in how enterprises and consumers alike engage with the technology, and it has wide-reaching implications for the future of work. Areas such as customer service, for example, have been firmly in the crosshairs of agentic AI providers, with these roles identified as prime candidates for automation.

In other professions, such as software development, AI is already outperforming human workers in areas such as coding.

To some, these advances might point toward humanity reaching the tipping
point on AGI, but a key factor in whether or not AGI can be acknowledged lies in generality.

Specialist AI tools or agents aimed specifically at conducting one particular task isnt a marker of AGI, more that these tools and bots have been trained with these tasks in mind.

However, being able to switch between tasks and carry them out at the same level of efficiency is, according to Google. Core characteristics of AGI by the tech giants definition include generalization ability.

AGI can transfer knowledge and skills learned in one domain to another, enabling it to adapt to new and unseen situations effectively, the company notes. Common cause in big tech Altman isnt the only leading industry figure convinced that AGI is achievable and looming around the corner. A host of industry leaders such as Dario Amodei and Elon Musk have also touted the potential in the near future.

What these figures all have in common, however, is that their long-term roadmap is based on achieving this goal, and its becoming increasingly important in deals between industry players.

OpenAIs revised partnership agreement with Microsoft , for example, contains clauses relating to AGI . A similar partnership with Amazon Web Services
(AWS) also requires the company to reach AGI to secure future investment boosts.

Clarke may have loosely predicted a future of intelligent machines capable of human-level thinking, but what he likely couldnt have predicted is exactly
how much was at stake from a financial perspective.



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