1. What you'll lose1/5

   The Industrial Revolution was not kind to everyone, as he conceded.

2. Condescension0/5

   Gentle.

3. Tone-deafness2/5

   'We wouldn't wish it hadn't happened.'

4. Doom3/5

   Ten times bigger, ten times faster, in five to ten years.

5. Hypocrisy0/5

   None.

Full time6 pitchforksof a possible 25

The occasion

Interview with The Guardian at DeepMind's London offices, reported 5 August 2025.

Context

In a Guardian interview, Hassabis said AGI, meaning something with all the cognitive capabilities of humans, could come in five to ten years, and that the resulting change would be "10 times bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and maybe 10 times faster". He conceded the Industrial Revolution was not equally beneficial but said "we wouldn't wish it hadn't happened". The Guardian article itself was not retrievable; the date is the first coverage seen (PC Gamer and eWeek, 2025-08-05).

Crowd reaction

Critical commentary

PC Gamer opened "Another week, another prominent name being perhaps all too optimistic about the future of AI", added "With Large Language Models still hallucinating and glazing for days, AGI doesn't feel quite that close to me" and subheaded "I'm not getting my hopes up though"; Windows Central's headline mocked the forecast as "DeepMind Thinks AI Will Do All the Work—You Just Need to Chill Until 2035". Mild, from two outlets.

See the reaction

• PC Gamer: DeepMind CEO makes big brain claims, saying AGI could be here within 'five to 10 years' and cause humanity to experience widespread change that's '10 times bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and maybe 10 times faster'
• eWeek: AI Will Be ’10 Times Bigger Than the Industrial Revolution,’ Says Google’s Hassabis
• Windows Central: DeepMind Thinks AI Will Do All the Work—You Just Need to Chill Until 2035
• Where the exact words are printed