AGI debate: Hassabis vs. LeCun—who's right?

Technology Dec 26, 2025

A lively debate just broke out between Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis and AI pioneer Yann LeCun about whether Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is actually possible.
LeCun, speaking on a podcast, argued that human intelligence is more specialized than people think, so what people think about AGI is an illusion.

Where the experts stand

Hassabis pushed back, saying LeCun is mixing up "general" and "universal" intelligence—he believes AGI could learn anything a computer can, given enough resources.
Elon Musk even chimed in to support Hassabis's take.
Meanwhile, LeCun remains skeptical about current AI tech calling itself "general," pointing out that today's AIs are still pretty limited but useful for specific tasks. He thinks we're still far from real AGI.