AGI might create abundance, but it won’t dispel the incentives for companies and states to amass resources and compete with rivals. Hassabis admits he is better at forecasting technological futures than social and economic ones; he says he wishes more economists would take the possibility of near-term AGI seriously. Still, he thinks it’s inevitable we’ll need a “new political philosophy” to organize society in this world. Democracy, he says, “is not a panacea, by any means,” and might have to give way to “something better.”

But he is also confident that if we eventually build AGI capable of doing productive labor and scientific research, the world that it ushers into existence will be abundant enough to ensure a substantial increase in quality of life for everybody. “In the limited-resource world which we're in, things ultimately become zero-sum,” Hassabis says. “What I'm thinking about is a world where it's not a zero-sum game anymore, at least from a resource perspective.”

Quadrupeds being reviewed have automatic targeting systems but require human oversight to fire.

"The growing use of immunity, however, has raised worries that private companies have been given the green light to win business contracts illegally.

A local prosecutor said they dropped the charge because Mr Yang had made good use of the state subsidy. “It is true that he has made up some facts,” said the prosecutor. “But the project is completed and is having a positive impact.”