In a candid revelation, Koray Kavukcuoglu, the Chief Technology Officer of Google DeepMind, has provided a significant update on the tech giant's ambitious journey towards creating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Speaking in a recent interview with the Financial Times, Kavukcuoglu acknowledged that while AGI remains the ultimate mission, the industry, including Google, still lacks a concrete technical blueprint to achieve it.
The Elusive 'Recipe' for Human-Like AI
Kavukcuoglu explicitly stated that there is no definitive "recipe" for building AGI, emphasising that it is still fundamentally a research goal rather than a product ready for deployment. AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, refers to a hypothetical form of AI that possesses human-like cognitive abilities to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks, unlike today's narrow AI systems designed for specific functions.
"I think one thing that is really, really important for me is we do not have... the recipe of how to build AGI [because it is still research]," he told the Financial Times. This admission comes despite the competitive pressure in the AI sector, notably following the launch of Google's Gemini 3 model in November 2025, which reportedly triggered an internal "code red" at rival OpenAI to enhance ChatGPT's capabilities.
Industry Titans: Excitement Tempered by Caution
The race for AGI has ignited passionate responses from other leading figures. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a podcast last month, expressed unparalleled personal excitement for AGI's development, stating it is what he is "most excited for ever in life." However, this fervour is balanced by calls for prudence from other quarters.
Mustafa Suleyman, the head of AI at Microsoft, has issued warnings about the potential dangers of unchecked superintelligence. He advocates for prioritising human safety and control over the raw pursuit of AI power. "We can't build superintelligence just for superintelligence's sake. It's got to be for humanity's sake," Suleyman cautioned, highlighting the critical need for responsible development.
Google's User-Centric Path Forward
Kavukcuoglu outlined Google's distinctive approach to navigating this complex frontier. He asserted that the path to beneficial AGI will be guided by continuous user feedback and Google's vast existing infrastructure. The strategy involves integrating safety and security principles from the ground up while leveraging signals from billions of global users to identify where the technology is most needed.
"The only way to do that is to get that signal from the users in a responsible way," Kavukcuoglu explained. He pointed to Google's long history of serving users at scale as a foundational advantage. This user-centric, iterative development process, he believes, is the responsible route toward building an AGI that is genuinely useful and aligned with human needs.
The conversation underscores a pivotal moment in AI development, where monumental ambition is being carefully weighed against profound responsibility, with no single company yet holding the master key to artificial general intelligence.
