Deep Hype in Artificial General Intelligence: Uncertainty, Sociotechnical Fictions and the Governance of AI Futures

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how hype, sociotechnical fictions, and speculation drive the promotion of AGI, influencing governance and overshadowing democratic oversight despite its uncertain feasibility.

Contribution

It conceptualizes AGI hype as a sociotechnical phenomenon involving overpromising, fiction, and financial speculation that impacts governance and policy.

Findings

AGI is sustained by deep hype and sociotechnical fictions.

Uncertainty and speculation influence AGI promotion and governance.

Hype sidelines democratic oversight and reframes regulation.

Abstract

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is promoted by technology leaders and investors as a system capable of performing all human intellectual tasks, and potentially surpassing them. Despite its vague definition and uncertain feasibility, AGI has attracted major investment and political attention, fuelled by promises of civilisational transformation. This paper conceptualises AGI as sustained by deep hype: a long-term, overpromissory dynamic articulated through sociotechnical fictions that render not-yet-existing technologies desirable and urgent. The analysis highlights how uncertainty, fiction, and venture capital speculation interact to advance a cyberlibertarian and longtermist programme that sidelines democratic oversight and reframes regulation as obsolete, with critical implications for the governance of technological futures.