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

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.