Read for 2 minutesNew DelhiFebruary 19, 2026 09:34 PM IST
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind and one of the world’s leading AI scientists, told delegates at the India-AI Impact Summit that artificial general intelligence (AGI) could be achieved in the next five years, which he called a “threshold moment” for AI and human progress.
“..in 2026, we’re at another threshold moment where AGI, artificial general intelligence is on the horizon, maybe in the next five years,” Hassabis said.
AGI is a theoretical form of AI that has the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide variety of tasks at a level that equals or exceeds human capabilities. Unlike current narrow AI designed for specific tasks, AGI is pegged to generalize knowledge across domains, demonstrate common sense, and solve novel problems autonomously.
Hassabis says progress in foundational models and autonomous AI systems is progressing rapidly. He said these technologies could reach a general ability comparable to human intelligence much sooner than many expected.
He places AGI in the context of major historical changes, comparing its potential impact to foundational advances such as fire and electricity. He said that AGI could deliver about 10 times the impact of the Industrial Revolution, but it would happen in a much shorter time frame.
While largely optimistic about the benefits, he highlighted risks such as abuse by malicious actors and increased autonomy of AI systems, calling for global cooperation on security standards, biosecurity and cybersecurity before powerful general-purpose AI systems become widespread.
Hassabis also praised India’s growing role in the global AI landscape, citing strong talent, energy and research momentum in the country’s technology hubs. He reiterated DeepMind’s plans to expand partnerships with Indian institutions, industries and government bodies, including collaborations on research, education and deployment of AI tools.
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On Wednesday, Google said FeepMind will partner with various Indian government agencies to provide its frontier AI models.
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