Google co-founder Sergey Brin says the race to AGI is on, urges Google to move faster

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Google co-founder Sergey Brin believes the race to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is officially on. In a memo to Google’s AI team this week, he urged employees to move faster, saying competition has become intense and now is the time to “turbocharge” their efforts.

Brin has been more involved in Google’s AI work since early 2023, and he’s pushing for a big shift, using AI to improve AI itself. He wants Google’s engineers to rely more on their own AI tools for coding, believing that this is the key to reaching AGI.

He also encouraged employees to work harder, saying that being in the office every weekday and putting in around 60 hours a week is the most productive approach. He did warn against burnout but made it clear—Google needs to move fast if it wants to stay ahead.

AGI is often described as AI that can think, learn, and solve problems like a human, rather than being limited to specific tasks. While there’s no universal definition of AGI, many AI companies, including Google, see it as the ultimate goal.

Brin’s memo comes at a time when competition is heating up. Google’s DeepMind, led by Demis Hassabis, has been working toward AGI for years. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman recently said they already know how to build AGI and are now aiming for something even more powerful—superintelligence.

With Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 2.0, launched in December, the company is making big moves in AI. Brin’s message is clear, the race to AGI is on, and Google plans to win it.