John Carmack Leaves Oculus Post, Has Big Ideas In Mind For AI

He says that he will still "have a voice in the development work" but notes that the endeavor will consume "a modest slice of my time." As for what Carmack plans to do with the remainder of his time, he intends to work on artificial general intelligence (AGI). Carmack notes that in all the things he has done in games, aerospace, and VR, he has always felt that he had "at least a vague line of sight" to the solutions needed.

Carmack says that he always wondered how he would fare with a problem where a solution really isn't in sight. He wanted to give it a try before he is too old. Carmack says that he thinks that he has a "non-negligible" chance of making a difference in the field. As for where the work on AGI will be performed, Carmack says, "for at least the time being," he will do it in a "Victorian Gentleman Scientist" style and work on the project from home.

He notes that he plans on drafting his son into the work. As for other projects he's considering, Carmack says that he toyed with the idea of working on cost-effective nuclear fission reactors. He says that working on fission reactors wouldn't have been as suitable for his gentleman style of work. We just hope that he doesn't invent something akin to Skynet.