Two years. That's the amount of time human beings have before artificial intelligence becomes better thinkers and strategists than us, according to Ben Goertzel, CEO of SingularityNET, a decentralized AI marketplace.

While the artificial intelligence industry is currently focused on developing automated agents to improve market efficiency, Goertzel suggested that, for the time being, people remain the primary driver of high-level strategy. He noted that while his Quantium project can predict short-term bitcoin BTC$66,944.44 volatility with high accuracy, long-term strategic thinking remains a uniquely human domain, for now.

"The human brain is better at taking the imaginative leap to understand the unknown," Goertzel said in an interview at Consensus Hong Kong. It won't last, though. "We should enjoy it for a couple more years."

Goertzel’s two-year countdown isn't just an AI expert’s prediction: It’s a roadmap for the integration of SingularityNET’s decentralized AI with the broader blockchain ecosystem. As the distinction between human-driven and machine-driven markets blurs, Goertzel explained that the current bear cycle is merely a "stress test" for the infrastructure that will eventually host artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Goertzel said he's noted a palpable shift in energy from speculative hype to technological utility. The prevailing mindset among the conference's attendees has changed, he said. The focus has moved from the "depressing" fluctuations of exchange rates toward the sophisticated integration of decentralized finance (DeFi) with traditional financial systems.

To Goertzel, this indicates that the technology has reached a stage where it works reliably for complex, real-world applications.

Furthermore, he highlighted the explosive growth of decentralized AI projects at the event as a sign the industry is poised for a major convergence, where blockchain provides the necessary data sovereignty and security for the next generation of artificial intelligence.