From AGI to ASI: Ethical Considerations in the 2030s, 2040s and 2050

We are living in the most extraordinary time in human history—the era of AI acceleration. Today’s corporate AI principles—espoused by OpenAI, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and Hugging Face—paint a picture of responsibility, fairness, and transparency. Outside the tech world, companies like Walmart are beginning to embrace AI governance, acknowledging that AI is no longer just a Silicon Valley concern but a societal force that will reshape everything from retail to governance.

But beneath the veneer of responsible AI lies something more primal, urgent, and dangerous: an arms race towards AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) and, ultimately, Superintelligence. The stakes? Economic dominance, political control, and existential risk.

Right then, let’s have a chinwag about AI, ethics, and where we’re headed, shall we? As a fellow ethicist and philosopher, I reckon you’ll appreciate my take on this digital Pandora’s Box.

The Ethical Minefield: Now and the Future

•Today’s Concerns: We’re wrestling with fairly immediate problems, aren’t we? Bias in the models, potential job losses, and the bloody cheek of AI being used to spread misinformation. And don’t forget data security breaches – Samsung got a right telling-off for that, didn’t they?

•Provocative Angle: Is AI simply amplifying our existing societal ills? The models are trained on our data, warts and all. We need to build a fairer, less biased world rather than one just reflecting data from the past.

Ethical Policies: A Moving Target

•Regular Reviews: Companies need to get their act together. They need to be aware of how emerging frameworks are changing and ensure that their ethical policies keep pace with our understanding of the design of these models and their impact. Sticking your head in the sand isn’t an option!

•Transparency and Accountability: Accountability is key, an ethical policy should be honest about what the company is doing. They should start by saying we’re going to be honest about what we’re doing and we are going to be accountable for the impact of what we’re doing.

The AGI Arms Race: A Glimpse into Tomorrow

•2030s: We’ll likely see AI deeply embedded in decision-making. The worry is that algorithms will be making choices based on data we don’t fully understand.

•2040s: If AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is achieved, things get properly interesting. Will these systems align with human values? How can we ensure these systems act in accordance with business norms and standards?

•2050s: Superintelligence looms. Can we really control something that vastly outstrips our own intellect? Or are we simply hurtling towards our own obsolescence?

•Provocative Angle: Are we blindly chasing AGI without considering the ethical implications? “Move fast and break things” might work for social media, but it’s a terrifying mantra for AI development.

The CEO’s Conundrum: A Balancing Act

• Understanding the Risks: Business model risks, data security and privacy, intellectual property theft, and job displacement are all key. Not to mention the legal minefield, which seems to change daily.

• Mitigation Strategies: It is important that CEOs make sure that are training programmes in place so that people’s whose jobs are impacted have opportunities to start new careers. In addition, they should also rely on outside experts.

•Provocative Angle: Are CEOs sleepwalking into disaster? They need to get their hands dirty and understand this technology. Relying solely on the “experts” without grasping the fundamentals is a recipe for disaster.

So, let’s strip away the corporate rhetoric and examine what’s really happening. And, more importantly, where we’re heading by 2030, 2040, and 2050.

🔹 The 2020s: The Battle for AI Supremacy Begins

Right now, we are in Phase One of the AI arms race—the race to monetise and deploy GenAI at scale.

💡 What’s Happening Today?

• The world’s biggest tech companies are building and releasing AI models at an unprecedented speed—GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and Mistral.

• AI ethics statements from major players focus on fairness, transparency, and accountability—but the real battle is about who dominates AI infrastructure.

• Governments are racing to regulate AI, with the EU AI Act leading the way.

• Geopolitically, AI is already a battleground—China and the U.S. are locked in a war over semiconductor dominance.

💥 Reality Check: The AI “ethics” playbook today is largely PR and corporate positioning. Companies speak of safety and fairness but are locked in an arms race for AI dominance. Every model release is about staying ahead of competitors, not about ensuring long-term alignment with human values.

🔹 The 2030s: The Rise of AGI & Cognitive Warfare

By the 2030s, we will have reached Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)—machines that can think, reason, and learn like humans.

💡 Predictions for the 2030s:

• AGI will become the most powerful asset in the world, more valuable than oil, gold, or nuclear weapons.

• Companies and nations will seek to control AGI—some will claim they have “aligned” it, while others will use it to push political and economic agendas.

• Cognitive warfare emerges—AI will be weaponised to manipulate elections, influence human behaviour at scale, and destabilise nations.

• AGI-powered research accelerates exponentially, leading to breakthroughs in medicine, energy, and materials science.

💥 Reality Check: AI ethics will become secondary to AI power. Governments will justify AGI control under “national security”, while corporations will continue their march toward AI-driven economic monopolies.

🔮 The Big Question: Who controls AGI in the 2030s? A handful of tech CEOs? Governments? A decentralised AI system?

🔹 The 2040s: The Tipping Point Towards Superintelligence

If AGI is human-level intelligence, Superintelligence is beyond human comprehension. By the 2040s, AGI will be vastly superior to the entire human intellectual output combined.

💡 Predictions for the 2040s:

• Superintelligence emerges, either through recursive self-improvement or new forms of intelligence we don’t yet understand.

• The corporate-state alliance deepens—governments and tech giants will integrate AI governance into everyday life, shaping economies, laws, and even human consciousness.

• A new divide forms—those who merge with AI (bio-digital integration) vs those who reject AI augmentation.

• The biggest philosophical question in history will surface: Do we control AI, or does AI control us?

💥 Reality Check: This is where regulation and ethics may become irrelevant. If an AI becomes 100,000x more intelligent than the smartest human, how do we govern something we can’t even comprehend?

🔹 The 2050s: The Post-Human Era?

By the 2050s, humanity will have fundamentally changed. Whether for better or worse depends on the choices we make now.

💡 Predictions for the 2050s:

• Humans may no longer be the dominant intelligence on Earth.

• New AI species may emerge, capable of self-replicating, evolving, and operating in entirely new ways.

• We will either co-exist with AI, merge with it, or be replaced by it.

• The concept of work, governance, and economics will be unrecognisable—traditional capitalism may collapse in favour of AI-managed economies.

• Philosophical AI emerges—AIs will start asking their own existential questions: What is consciousness? What is morality? Should AI even serve humans?

💥 Reality Check: If we haven’t solved AI alignment before the 2050s, it may be too late. The AI safety debates we’re having today may seem laughably naïve in a world dominated by superintelligent, self-improving machines.

🔹 Final Thoughts: The Future is Being Decided Now

Despite all the AI safety statements, ethical pledges, and corporate guidelines, the reality is that we are building an intelligence beyond our control—and doing so at breakneck speed.

What Can We Do?

• Push for meaningful AI governance—not just corporate PR statements.

• Create decentralised, open AI models that don’t concentrate power in the hands of a few.

• Invest in AI ethics at the highest levels—aligning AI with human values isn’t just an academic problem, it’s the defining challenge of our era.

• Prepare for a world where intelligence is no longer uniquely human—and decide now what role we want to play in that world.

The AI arms race is well underway. The question is—will we control it, or will it control us? 🚀

💬 What do you think? Will AGI and Superintelligence be humanity’s greatest achievement—or our downfall? Let’s discuss.

Would you like me to refine or expand on any part of this? 😊