"I think it’s a little absurd that we would make the leap to machine super-intelligence without going through the step of machine low or medium intelligence."
Why? The leap from calculators that were worse than humans, to calculators that were much, much better than humans, didn't take too long. No one knows how fast the leap will be from what we currently have, to general intelligence, to super intelligence.
I don't think anyone in the AI safety movement will tell you that we know for sure the leap will be fast. I think they'd say we simply don't know how fast it will be, but the stakes are pretty high so it's worth preparing for.
Why? The leap from calculators that were worse than humans, to calculators that were much, much better than humans, didn't take too long. No one knows how fast the leap will be from what we currently have, to general intelligence, to super intelligence.
I don't think anyone in the AI safety movement will tell you that we know for sure the leap will be fast. I think they'd say we simply don't know how fast it will be, but the stakes are pretty high so it's worth preparing for.