Depends on what you mean by “important”. It’s not like it will be a huge loss if we never invent AGI. I suspect we can reach a technology singularity even with limited AI derived from today’s LLMs

But AGI is important in the sense that it have a huge impact on the path humanity takes, hopefully for the better.

> But AGI is important in the sense that it have a huge impact on the path humanity takes

The only difference between AI and AGI is that AI is limited in how many tasks it can carry out (special intelligence), while AGI can handle a much broader range of tasks (general intelligence). If instead of one AGI that can do everything, you have many AIs that, together, can do everything, what's the practical difference?

AGI is important only in that we are of the belief that it will be easier to implement than many AIs, which appeals to the lazy human.