Breaking: Did Integral AI’s Jad Tarifi Just Announce AGI?

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In my latest Singularity.FM conversation with Dr. Jad Tarifi, CEO of Integral AI, I heard something I don’t say lightly: a credible claim that AGI may have just arrived — or at least the foundation of it. I don’t often say “Wow” during interviews, but in this one I simply couldn’t stop. Tarifi describes a new AGI-capable model built on an architecture and learning paradigm fundamentally different from today’s large language models, and he argues it can scale toward artificial general intelligence at human-level energy efficiency. If you haven’t seen our first interview, I strongly recommend watching it first — it provides the context that makes this one hit even harder.

At the heart of Tarifi’s announcement is a shift from prediction-only LLMs to an abstraction-first world model designed explicitly for AGI. Instead of cramming benchmarks, his system compresses knowledge into deep conceptual structures and then re-derives understanding when needed — a hallmark of genuine general intelligence. Layered on top is a new Interactive Learning loop: planning, taking action, generating its own training data, “dreaming” to consolidate memories, and continually updating its own weights without catastrophic forgetting. According to Tarifi, this is what allows the model to actually learn — not just infer — the way a true AGI must.

Tarifi also introduces a concrete approach to AGI alignment, grounded not in rules or filters but in maximizing collective agency — freedom — for individuals and the whole. The AGI evaluates simulated futures and chooses actions that increase our ability to know, choose, act, and renew ourselves. This becomes the moral foundation for what he calls the Alignment Economy, where value is tied to how much an action increases or decreases absolute human freedom.

All of this feeds into a larger AGI-driven vision: the Supernet, a global network of embodied AGI agents coordinating factories, robots, labs, homes, and infrastructure to turn human intentions into real-world outcomes. In Tarifi’s view, AGI isn’t just a digital mind — it’s an embodied, operational intelligence capable of reshaping how we work, build, learn, and create.

Whether you believe this is the moment AGI truly begins or simply the start of a new chapter in the race toward artificial general intelligence, one thing is certain: Tarifi’s announcement represents a serious, technically grounded break from the “just scale LLMs harder” era. If you’re interested in AGI, this is one conversation you don’t want to miss.

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Who is Jad Tarifi?

AGI expert, Jad Tarifi, currently serves as CEO & co-founder at Integral AI, where he is driving industry-changing breakthroughs in scalable, energy-efficient AGI to bring humanity closer towards superintelligence. With over 20 years of experience, he has dedicated much of his career to pioneering approaches to AGI.

Before founding Integral AI, Jad spent nearly a decade at Google AI, where he founded and led the world’s first Generative AI team and spearheaded research on neocortex-inspired AI. He holds a Ph.D. in AI, with a dissertation focusing on brain-inspired and mathematically rigorous theories of intelligence, and an M.S. in Quantum Computing.

A visionary on the future of AI and its global impact on humanity, Jad has been invited to speak at Stanford University, Fortune’s Brainstorm AI, Nvidia’s GTC Digital and has appeared on some of the world’s most impactful AI podcasts. Jad is also the author of the highly acclaimed Freedom Series, a four-volume guidebook that explores the future of AI, human potential, and societal transformation in the age of AGI. The series presents a hopeful yet pragmatic vision for aligning AI with humanity’s highest ideals, detailing the technical path to building AGI, while offering readers a new worldview and practical tools for flourishing in a world shaped by superintelligence.

A leading voice in the global AI industry, Jad frequently provides his expert commentary and insights to popular media outlets including The Associated Press, Business Insider, CNBC, CNET, Entrepreneur, Fortune, The Information, Mashable, TechRadar, Tom’s Guide, VentureBeat, and The Washington Post.

Born in Lebanon, educated in the US, and now based in Japan, Jad brings a deeply human and universal perspective to his mission of advancing AGI for the benefit of all.