Subvolts take DeepMind's AGI roadmap and MuZero's game-conquering tech. Feb 15, 2022 - Developers
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This episode features a DeepMind co-founder discussing the lab's long-term AGI goals and a key AI system's capabilities.
The road to AGI
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Google DeepMind podcast host Hannah Fry interviews co-founder Shane Legg about artificial general intelligence (AGI). They discuss Legg's definition of AGI, its potential realization timeline, and possible forms. The episode also explores a trial-and-error approach to AGI and highlights DeepMind's MuZero system, which mastered complex games and is now applied to real-world tasks.
This podcast episode talks about building super-smart AI, called AGI, that could think like humans. It features a DeepMind founder discussing when we might see it and how AI systems like MuZero, which learned to play complex games, are a step in that direction.
This episode offers insight into the long-term vision of AGI from a key figure at DeepMind. Listeners learn about the theoretical underpinnings and practical steps toward AGI, including successes like MuZero. It's for anyone tracking AI's ultimate goals and how current research, like game-playing AI, contributes to that pursuit. This connects directly to the broader AI race, as labs like Google Gemini, OpenAI, and Anthropic also aim for more capable AI systems.
- HostHannah Fry
- GuestShane Leggco-founder and chief scientist, DeepMind
- GuestDoina PrecupDeepMind
- GuestDave SilverDeepMind
- GuestJackson BroshearDeepMind
- Episode Title: The road to AGI
- Show: Google DeepMind: The Podcast
- Length: 33 minutes
- Guest: Shane Legg, DeepMind co-founder and chief scientist
- AI System Highlighted: MuZero
Hannah meets DeepMind co-founder and chief scientist Shane Legg, the man who coined the phrase ‘artificial general intelligence’, and explores how it might be built. Why does Shane think AGI is possible? When will it be realised? And what could it look like? Hannah also explores a simple theory of using trial and error to reach AGI and takes a deep dive into MuZero, an AI system which mastered complex board games from chess to Go, and is now generalising to solve a range of important tasks in the real world.
For questions or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter @DeepMind or email podcast@deepmind.com.
Interviewees: DeepMind’s Shane Legg, Doina Precup, Dave Silver & Jackson Broshear
Credits
Presenter: Hannah Fry
Series Producer: Dan Hardoon
Production support: Jill Achineku
Sounds design: Emma Barnaby
Music composition: Eleni Shaw
Sound Engineer: Nigel Appleton
Editor: David Prest
Commissioned by DeepMind
Thank you to everyone who made this season possible!
Further reading:
Real-world challenges for AGI, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/real-world-challenges-for-agi
An executive primer on artificial general intelligence, McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/an-executive-primer-on-artificial-general-intelligence
Mastering Go, chess, shogi and Atari without rules, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/muzero-mastering-go-chess-shogi-and-atari-without-rules
What is AGI?, Medium: https://medium.com/intuitionmachine/what-is-agi-99cdb671c88e
A Definition of Machine Intelligence by Shane Legg, arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/0712.3329
Reward is enough by David Silver, ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0004370221000862
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Questions people ask
- What is AGI?
- AGI stands for Artificial General Intelligence, a term coined by DeepMind's Shane Legg. It refers to AI that can perform a wide range of tasks at a human-like level.
- What is MuZero?
- MuZero is an AI system developed by DeepMind that mastered complex board games like chess and Go without being told the rules. It is now being applied to solve various real-world problems.
Page generated Oct 19, 2026. Summaries are Subvolts' own; the audio, artwork and notes belong to Hannah Fry.