Most people actually doing AI research are much more conservative about their estimates and expectations of AGI. They understand very clearly how much of current AI "breakthroughs" really just barely nudge the ball forward (market speak aside). Do you use an virtual assistant -- OK Google, Alexa, Siri, etc? Has your experience with those assistants consistently improved or do they regress in annoying ways that make them seem obviously ignorant of basic facts, previously known facts, or common sense?
Actually, opinions about AGI are quite mixed. People like Ng are more conservative; people like Schmidhuber are more aggressive in their predictions; both are eminent researchers.
RE: Siri and Alexa - Industry deployments of AI are a lagging indicator of what AI can do. AI is moving at two speeds: research and business/consumer applications. The research is moving faster than the apps.
AlphaGo and many other fundamental papers to come out in the last two years have done more than nudge the ball forward. They constitute significant steps, and bundled together they are an even greater achievement.
