Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has warned that society is not ready for human-level artificial intelligence (AI), popularly referred to as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). In an interview with Time, Mr Hassabis was quizzed about what keeps him up at night, to which he talked about AGI, which was in the final steps of becoming reality.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner said AI systems capable of human-level cognitive abilities were only five to ten years away.
“For me, it’s this question of international standards and cooperation and also not just between countries, but also between companies and researchers as we get towards the final steps of AGI. And I think we are on the cusp of that. Maybe we are five to 10 years out. Some people say shorter, I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Mr Hassabis.
“It’s a sort of like probability distribution. But it’s coming, either way it’s coming very soon and I’m not sure society’s quite ready for that yet. And we need to think that through and also think about these issues that I talked about earlier, to do with the controllability of these systems and also the access to these systems and ensuring that all goes well,” he added.
Sir Demis Hassabis on what keeps him up at night: As we approach “the final steps toward AGI,” safety still matters — but it’s coordination that haunts him.
“It’s coming… and I’m not sure society’s ready.”
How will countries, companies, and labs align before it’s too late? pic.twitter.com/W0WZRmcaM8
— vitrupo (@vitrupo) April 23, 2025
This is not the first instance when Mr Hassabis has warned about the perils of AGI. He has previously batted for a UN-like umbrella organisation to oversee AGI’s development.
“I would advocate for a kind of CERN for AGI, and by that, I mean a kind of international research focused high-end collaboration on the frontiers of AGI development to try and make that as safe as possible,” said Mr Hassabis in February.
“You would also have to pair it with a kind of an institute like IAEA, to monitor unsafe projects and sort of deal with those. And finally, some kind of supervening body that involves many countries around the world. So a kind of like UN umbrella, something that is fit for purpose for that, a technical UN,” he added.
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AGI could destroy humanity
The assessment by the Google executive comes in the backdrop of DeepMind publishing a research paper earlier this month, warning that AGI may “permanently destroy humanity”.
“Given the massive potential impact of AGI, we expect that it too could pose potential risk of severe harm,” the study highlighted, adding that existential risks that “permanently destroy humanity” are clear examples of severe harm.
What is AGI?
AGI takes AI a step further. While AI is task-specific, AGI aims to possess intelligence that can be applied across a wide range of tasks, similar to human intelligence. In essence, AGI would be a machine with the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge in diverse domains, much like a human being.
