Demis Hassabis Wants to Build AGI. Should We Trust Him?

When journalist Sebastian Mallaby approached Demis Hassabis, Google's AI chief and a man with a lifelong mission to build superintelligence, about writing his biography, he made the following pitch: "If you're going to disrupt people from head to toe, you owe them an explanation of why you're doing it. What motivates you? Why do something this dangerous?" Today, Sebastian tells us what answers he found. Sebastian's new book, The Infinity Machine, is out now. Pick up a copy from Amazon, Audible, or Bookshop.org. The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. Follow Rufus on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠,

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Demis Hassabis Wants to Build AGI. Should We Trust Him? is an episode from The Next Big Idea by Next Big Idea Club.

This episode is 73:44 long.

This episode was published on Apr 13, 2026.

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