Goalposts

Hacker News has set AI a lot of challenges over the years. Which ones has it met?

2025 Julypama

About a claimed proof that AGI is mathematically impossible, using Kolmogorov complexity.

I didnt read your draft paper, but your premise in HN sounds a bit off to me. AGI does not assume the ability for finding or learning an optimal solution to every problem (with that assumption it would be trivial to prove it impossible in many different ways). Independent of the exact definition, a system of intelligence that is better or equal to the best human in any domain would be at least termed AGI. (If there exist a couple incompressible problems along the way you can memorize the human solution.) If you proved AGI impossible under such a (weaker?) definition you would prove that humans can no longer improve in any domain (as the set of all humans is a general intelligence). Or you would need to assume that there is something special inside humans, which no technology can ever build. I disagree with both premises.

An AI system is at least as good as the best human in every domain.

Has this happened?

Yes 12 (10%)Not sure 17 (14%)No 89 (75%)

Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.