DeepMind's Hassabis: We're in the 'Foothills of the Singularity' — AGI Possible by 2029
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis used a May 26 Axios interview to deliver his most compressed AGI timeline yet, saying humanity is standing in the 'foothills of the singularity' and that society has only a few years le.
At a glance
- Hassabis said humanity is standing in the 'foothills of the singularity' with only a few years to prepare for AGI
- He still broadly expects AGI around 2030 but now sees 2029 as a possibility
- Hassabis is discussing possible safety measures with leaders at other top AI labs but declined to give specifics
- He flagged recursive self-improvement as a concern the leading labs are focused on
- He criticized economists for not taking AI's societal impact seriously enough
VERDICT — CONFIRMED
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis used a May 26 Axios interview to deliver his most compressed AGI timeline yet, saying humanity is standing in the 'foothills of the singularity' and that society has only a few years left to prepare. Hassabis said he still broadly expects artificial general intelligence around 2030 but now sees 2029 as a possibility, a view he tied to mounting progress in agentic systems: 'We can see agents really happening now and imagine what they will be in another year, and how useful they'll be.' The comments extend remarks Hassabis made at Google's I/O developer conference the previous week, where the company launched Gemini 3.5 and Gemini Omni.
He revealed he is discussing possible safety measures with leaders at other top AI labs, though he declined to offer specifics, and flagged recursive self-improvement — systems capable of materially accelerating their own development — as a risk the leading labs are focused on. Hassabis also warned that the conversation about AI's society-reshaping impact remains largely confined to tech circles: 'My economist friends, I feel, are still not taking this seriously enough.' Sherwood News framed the revised window as 'AGI is 3 to 4 years away,' and Japan's GIGAZINE relayed the 2030-with-2029-possible timeline.
Why it matters
when the industry's most scientifically conservative lab chief moves his AGI window to 2029, policymakers and enterprises lose the luxury of treating superintelligence preparation as a next-decade problem.
Key facts on file
- Hassabis said humanity is standing in the 'foothills of the singularity' with only a few years to prepare for AGI
- He still broadly expects AGI around 2030 but now sees 2029 as a possibility
- Hassabis is discussing possible safety measures with leaders at other top AI labs but declined to give specifics
- He flagged recursive self-improvement as a concern the leading labs are focused on
- He criticized economists for not taking AI's societal impact seriously enough
