The race to build AI that can think like a human may be moving faster than expected.
Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis now believes artificial general intelligence (AGI) could arrive within just two to three years, potentially putting human-level AI within reach by 2028.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal Magazine in an interview published Wednesday, the Nobel Prize-winning AI pioneer shortened his previous estimate of three to five years.
"It's soon," Hassabis tells the publication, adding, "I'm updating nearer and nearer."
That's a striking statement from one of the researchers behind Google's Gemini models. But it also raises a bigger question: If AI is potentially just two years away from matching human intelligence, why does today's technology still struggle with seemingly simple tasks?
Hassabis has been predicting the arrival of AGI for years, but his estimates have become increasingly aggressive.
In December 2025, he told Axios that AGI could still be five to 10 years away. By May 2026, he was suggesting it might arrive around 2030, or possibly even sooner.
Part of his growing confidence comes from the progress AI companies have made with autonomous agents. Unlike traditional chatbots that wait for instructions, these systems can carry out multistep tasks, use tools and make decisions along the way.
Following Google I/O in May, Hassabis told Axios that today's AI agents were essentially a practice run for AGI.
He also acknowledged that some of his urgent language was intended to encourage governments, economists and the public to take the approaching technology more seriously.
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