# The Transformative Potential of Artificial Intelligence

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.00747 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.00747/

## Key facts

- Cited by 15 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 27 Nov 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 15 of 15)

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- [An International Consortium for Evaluations of Societal-Scale Risks from Advanced AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.14455/) (2023)
- [Strategic Insights from Simulation Gaming of AI Race Dynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03092/) (2024)
- [Both eyes open: Vigilant Incentives help Regulatory Markets improve AI Safety](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.03174/) (2023)
- [From Solvers to Research: Large Language Model-Driven Formal Mathematics at the Research Frontier](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.07779/) (2026)
- [Safe Transformative AI via a Windfall Clause](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.09404/) (2021)
- [The Transform-o-meter: A method to forecast the transformative impact of innovation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.04711/) (2022)
- [AI Systems of Concern](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.05876/) (2023)
- [Implications for Governance in Public Perceptions of Societal-scale AI Risks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.06199/) (2024)
- [AI-assisted radiographic analysis in detecting alveolar bone-loss severity and patterns](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.20522/) (2025)
- [Precautionary Governance of Autonomous AI: Legal Personhood as Functional Instrument](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.12505/) (2026)
- [TEDDY: A Pediatric Foundation Model for Risk Forewarning from ICD-Coded Diagnostic Histories](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.14191/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The terms 'human-level artificial intelligence' and 'artificial general intelligence' are widely used to refer to the possibility of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) with potentially extreme impacts on society. These terms are poorly defined and do not necessarily indicate what is most important with respect to future societal impacts. We suggest that the term 'transformative AI' is a helpful alternative, reflecting the possibility that advanced AI systems could have very large impacts on society without reaching human-level cognitive abilities. To be most useful, however, more analysis of what it means for AI to be 'transformative' is needed. In this paper, we propose three different levels on which AI might be said to be transformative, associated with different levels of societal change. We suggest that these distinctions would improve conversations between policy makers and decision makers concerning the mid- to long-term impacts of advances in AI. Further, we feel this would have a positive effect on strategic foresight efforts involving advanced AI, which we expect to illuminate paths to alternative futures. We conclude with a discussion of the benefits of our new framework and by highlighting directions for future work in this area.