At Google I/O, Sergey Brin makes surprise appearance — and declares Google will build the first AGI

At Google I/O this week, amid the usual parade of dazzling product demos and AI-powered announcements, something unusual happened: Google declared war — quietly — in the race to build artificial general intelligence (AGI).

“We fully intend that Gemini will be the very first AGI,” said Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who made a surprise, unscheduled appearance at what was originally planned as a solo fireside chat with Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, Google’s AI research powerhouse. The conversation, hosted by Big Technology founder Alex Kantrowitz, pressed both men on the future of intelligence, scale, and the evolving definition of what it means for a machine to think.

The moment was fleeting, but unmistakable. In a field where most players hedge their talk of AGI with caveats — or avoid the term altogether — Brin’s comment ...