singularity feels – Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says the AI “singularity” may be arriving sooner than many expect, driven by the rise of powerful agentic systems. In interviews tied to Google’s I/O developer conference, he pointed to early experiences using AI agents to bu
Late Wednesday, as the Google I/O conference buzzed around him, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis sounded less like a futurist chasing a distant fantasy and more like someone watching a deadline approach.
In an interview with Axios cofounder Mike Allen at Google’s flagship I/O developer conference, Hassabis laid out why he thinks the singularity—a hypothetical turning point when AI outpaces human intelligence and begins improving itself—is coming “closer than ever.”
His key argument was tied to what has been changing fastest in recent AI releases: the rise of powerful AI agents that can do work for people. “This year, with the agentic systems that we’re all seeing and using, I think we can start feeling it now,” Hassabis said.
To make that idea tangible, he described how he has been using AI at night. Hassabis said he’s been using AI to build mini video games late at night—a kind of task that, in his view, would have taken many months in the past.
That personal example fed into a broader timeline. Hassabis added that he believes artificial general intelligence, or AGI—when machines are about as intelligent as humans—will arrive as soon as 2030.
He also pushed back on the idea that the impact of AI has been fully understood. Hassabis declared that AI will be 100 times as impactful as the Industrial Revolution.
But he drew a sharp line between powerful tools and a doomsday scenario. Hassabis said he doesn’t think machines will take over the world, unlike some in Silicon Valley. While he acknowledged that AI poses risks. he argued that humans will harness the technology to solve many problems. especially in science and healthcare. “I call myself a cautious optimist,” he said.
The singularity theme also landed the day before. On Tuesday at the I/O conference, Hassabis addressed the singularity again, telling the room: “When we look back at this time, I think we will realize that we were standing in the foothills of the singularity,” as the audience reacted with gasps.
What comes through in both moments is the same message—less a warning delivered from afar. more a sense that the shift is already underway. If agentic systems can compress tasks from months to late-night prototypes. and if AGI could arrive by 2030. then the debate stops being about whether AI is advancing and turns into how quickly it changes the world people live in.
DeepMind Demis Hassabis singularity AI agents AGI artificial general intelligence Google I/O Industrial Revolution impact science and healthcare caution optimistic
So does this mean my phone is gonna start thinking for me by next week? lol
I mean “singularity” again… They always say sooner than we expect. Also 100 times the Industrial Revolution is such a wild number, like okay prove it.
Wait, he said he uses AI at night to build mini video games, so… like he’s the one causing it?? If AGI is by 2030 then gaming companies are done for right? Not sure that’s what they meant but that’s what it sounds like.
“Cautious optimist” from DeepMind CEO is hilarious considering all the stuff about job loss and bias. And agentic systems compress tasks from months to late-night prototypes… cool, so we just replace people faster. Also I didn’t even know AI could “improve itself” like that, I thought it was mostly hype talk.