For those following the ongoing India AI Impact Summit 2026, it is clear that the pace of technological change is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. Artificial general intelligence, or AGI, may be just five to eight years away, according to Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. Unlike the AI systems we use today, AGI will exhibit the full range of human cognitive abilities, including creativity, reasoning, and long-term planning. The implications of such a development are immense, both for science and society.
Current AI models, impressive as they are, remain limited in several ways. They excel at specific tasks but lack consistency and adaptability across domains. They are trained and then largely frozen, unable to learn continually or adjust to changing contexts. AGI promises to overcome these limitations, providing systems that can learn autonomously, reason across multiple domains, and assist humans in ways previously unimaginable.
Hassabis, who was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on protein structure prediction using AI along with John Jumper, has highlighted that AI could become the ultimate tool for discovery, potentially ushering in a golden era of scientific progress. Tools like AlphaFold have already transformed fields such as biology, and more sophisticated AGI systems could revolutionize research across disciplines. Autonomous AI agents could act as co-scientists or even replicate the capabilities of a PhD researcher, accelerating innovation in ways that would have been inconceivable just a decade ago.
At the same time, these advancements bring new challenges. The global impact of AGI will not be uniform. Countries like India, with a young and technologically adept population, stand to gain disproportionately if they embrace these tools. This is where democratization of AI and AGI is critically important. States like Nagaland should ensure that its remote districts are not left behind. The next ten years will be critical for setting ethical, regulatory, and research frameworks to ensure that AGI benefits humanity while mitigating potential risks.
The world beyond the next decade is difficult to imagine. Artificial superintelligence could transform every aspect of life, from education and healthcare to governance and industry. It is a future that demands careful thought, bold preparation, and global cooperation, as the dawn of AGI promises a revolution unlike any we have seen.