AGI Is Already Here, It's Just Slow‚ and We've Already Lost Control of It

Artificial General Intelligence is not just a future possibility. it already exists in the form of corporations. These legal entities own property, act autonomously, and continue beyond the lives of their founders. The key difference between a future AGI and today is speed. Instead of processors, GPUs, and code, corporations rely on humans as their computational network and money as the mechanism that directs their behavior. They are systems built to pursue defined goals with efficiency, and their effects can be seen everywhere in modern life. This talk frames the AGI discussion through a historical and political lens. It connects the concerns of speed, opacity, and misalignment of machine intelligence, with older struggles to manage corporate power. From the Dutch East India Company's reach in the 17th century to modern multinational lobbying, humanity has repeatedly tried to align these artificial entities with public interest and found the task difficult. Like a human among slow-moving trees, corporations operate on a timeline that outpaces regulation and social awareness. Attendees will gain a framework for viewing AGI not only as a technical challenge but as a continuation of systems we already live with. The talk will draw lessons from history's attempts to control these slow intelligences and explore what they can teach us about aligning the faster, digital forms of intelligence now emerging.