Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has previously said that he expects AGI to arrive no sooner than 2030, but the company seems to already be preparing for a post-AGI world.
Shane Legg, co-founder of DeepMind, recently announced that the company is hiring a “Chief AGI Economist” to lead research into how artificial general intelligence will reshape the global economy. “AGI is now on the horizon and it will deeply transform many things, including the economy,” Legg wrote in a post announcing the role. “I’m currently looking to hire a Senior Economist, reporting directly to me, to lead a small team investigating post-AGI economics.”
The position, based in London, represents one of the most forward-looking roles in the AI industry. According to the job listing, the Chief AGI Economist will explore “the future of scarcity, and the distribution of power and resources in a world fundamentally reshaped by advanced AI.” The role goes beyond examining near-term economic disruptions to tackle foundational questions about how economics itself might function in a post-AGI world.
Key responsibilities include developing economic simulations and agent-based models to explore post-AGI scenarios, conducting research that questions existing assumptions about scarcity, wealth, and distribution, and engaging with external experts to bring diverse perspectives into the research. The economist will also be responsible for building and managing a research team and communicating findings to senior stakeholders and the broader public.
Google DeepMind is looking for candidates with a PhD in Economics or equivalent experience, along with deep expertise in areas such as economic modeling, agent-based simulation, public choice theory, or institutional economics. The ideal candidate should have a strong understanding of AI’s potential long-term societal impacts and proven ability to lead independent research in complex, evolving fields.
This isn’t the first time DeepMind has recruited for post-AGI positions. In April 2024, the company was hiring a “Post-AGI researcher” for its London office, seeking someone to explore “the profound impact of what comes after AGI.” That role focused on questions including the trajectory from AGI to artificial superintelligence (ASI), machine consciousness, and AGI’s impact on the foundations of human society across domains like economics, law, health, and education.
The creation of these specialized roles signals that Google DeepMind is taking seriously the possibility that AGI could arrive within the next several years. While the company hasn’t made official pronouncements about AGI timelines as aggressive as some competitors, the fact that it’s already building teams to study post-AGI economics suggests internal confidence that transformative AI systems are approaching.
The Chief AGI Economist role is particularly notable for its focus on fundamental economic questions rather than incremental policy adjustments. By asking researchers to examine the nature of scarcity and resource distribution in a world with AGI, DeepMind is acknowledging that the arrival of highly capable AI systems could require rethinking core economic assumptions that have held for centuries. And as AI capabilities continue to advance rapidly, the race to understand and prepare for AGI’s societal impacts is intensifying alongside the race to build the technology itself.