From LLMs to the Global Brain: the Emergence of Planetary Scale Artificial Intelligence

This article advances the Global Brain Argument, contending that escalating hyperintelli- gent AI systems, from savant-level LLMs to superintelligences, will connect human users, cloud platforms and the internet-of-things to form one or more emergent global brain networks—planetary scale complex adaptive systems that process information, evolve goals and exhibit agential behaviors. I analyse the premises of the argument, contrast the no- tion of AGI with my notions of savant and hyperintelligent systems, and defend the claim that many humans are becoming d-nodes in a global brain network. I then raise the AI Megasystem Control Problem: the problem of how disparate proprietary AI services may self-organize into opaque, weakly emergent megasystems that elude traditional AI align- ment techniques. I also delve into the ethical implications of the argument, such as surveil- lance capitalism, epistemic manipulation and dual-use risks and discuss the relationship between the argument and the extended mind hypothesis. (This piece is based on Schneider’s Petrus Hispanus lectures and will be followed by 5 replies in the journal Disputatio, where it will appear.) Keywords AGI; AI safety; collective intelligence; complex adaptive systems; emergence; extended mind; human-machine interaction; large language models; superintelligence