Are we already living in the early stages of the singularity? Sam Altman thinks so. And Mark Zuckerberg just placed a multi-billion-dollar bet that Meta can accelerate it.
In a whirlwind week for AI watchers, two seismic signals emerged: Altman published a sweeping essay called "The Gentle Singularity," while news broke that Meta is launching a dedicated lab to pursue artificial superintelligence. Both moves suggest AI insiders no longer see superintelligence as a distant possibility, but as an emerging reality.
What's really going on here behind the scenes? I got the full story from Marketing AI Institute founder and CEO Paul Roetzer on Episode 153 of The Artificial Intelligence Show.
Altman: The Singularity Is Quietly Underway
In his essay, Altman argues the singularity, the hypothesized moment when AI surpasses human intelligence, isn't coming. It's already happening. Just quietly.
Altman claims that systems like ChatGPT already outperform humans in many cognitive tasks, and that we've passed the "event horizon" toward digital superintelligence. What lies ahead, he says, isn't dramatic robot takeovers, but a rapid shift in expectations: AI-powered marvels becoming mundane, and we all keep moving on with our lives.
He forecasts that by 2027, robots will be handling real-world tasks. By 2030, productivity could be 10X what it was in 2020. And by 2035? Possibly brain-computer interfaces and space colonization.
Yet, despite the sweeping scope, Altman insists it will all feel "impressive but manageable." That's what makes it a "gentle" singularity: change so constant and normalized that society absorbs it without collapse.
But the essay glosses over the hard parts. Whole classes of jobs may vanish. Social contracts may not keep pace. The cost of intelligence may fall to the cost of electricity—but the cost of disruption could be much higher.
However, you need to take it seriously, says Roetzer. Altman has a history of writing essays that predict futures he is very confident will come to pass, often many years before they do.
"As someone who's followed his work and his writings for like a decade now, he generally writes things that he has seen or that he is very confident are going to be true in the near future based on things that he has seen or the trajectory of the things that they're building," says Roetzer.
"So, in my personal experiences, he's not really someone who tries to overhype things. He's someone who actually sort of sees more of the future than most of us get access to. And he tries through his words to prepare people for that future."
And he's not the only one who seems to think we're on the verge of superintelligence.
Meta: Building a Brain for the World
Meta is also going all-in on its own superintelligence ambitions. The company has created a new AI division explicitly focused on superintelligence and named Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, to lead it. Meta is investing nearly $15 billion to acquire a 49% stake in Scale and bring its talent and data infrastructure in-house.
Zuckerberg's move is part defensive, part visionary. Meta's recent AI efforts have lagged behind rivals, with LLaMA 4 falling short of expectations. Internally, Meta has been reorganizing its AI strategy, and this deal is a shot at catching up fast.
Wang, just 28 years old, brings more than just technical chops. He's authored strategy papers on superintelligence risks, advised governments, and now steps into a central role at one of the world’s most powerful tech companies. The deal structure, with Meta taking a minority stake, also helps sidestep regulatory roadblocks while giving Meta deep access to Scale's data pipeline.
"Zuckerberg I think was embarrassed by the launch of LLaMA 4," says Roetzer. "And he does not want to lose."
A Tipping Point in AI Ambitions
Altman’s essay and Meta’s restructuring reflect a broader trend: AI leaders aren’t just talking about AGI anymore. They’re explicitly planning for artificial superintelligence, systems far more capable than any human.
That vision includes recursive self-improvement, robotic infrastructure, and intelligence so cheap it costs little more than electricity. It's a vision where the most valuable resource becomes not capital or labor, but good ideas.
And yet, as these companies race ahead, society remains underprepared for what happens when intelligence scales faster than institutions can.
One thing is clear: this is no longer science fiction. The singularity is no longer theoretical to many of these leaders. It may already be unfolding, gently but inexorably, right before our eyes.
Mike Kaput
As Chief Content Officer, Mike Kaput uses content marketing, marketing strategy, and marketing technology to grow and scale traffic, leads, and revenue for Marketing AI Institute. Mike is the co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing and the Future of Business (Matt Holt Books, 2022). See Mike's full bio.