The man behind one of the world's most prized private firms just said AGI is here. And he almost missed the email about his big award.

Matei Zaharia runs tech at Databricks. He just won the 2026 ACM Prize in Computing. The award is for his work on Spark - the open code data tool he built at UC Berkeley in 2009.

His AI Take Is Spicy

"AGI is here already. It's just not in a form that we appreciate," Zaharia told TechCrunch. "We should stop trying to apply human standards to these AI models."

His point: AI can pass the bar test, but that doesn't mean it "knows" law like a person. It takes in facts easily. Humans can't. Treating AI like a small human leads to poor safety calls and wasted work.

He pointed to one AI agent tool as an example - calling it "great" but also "a security bad dream" because it acts like a trusted helper with access to codes and bank accounts.

What Excites Him Most

Zaharia is most pumped about "AI for research." He sees models that run lab tests, gather data, and check results on their own. He said it's like how vibe coding made coding easy for all.

"Not many people need to build apps, but lots of people need to get info," he said.

Worth Noting

Databricks has raised over $20 billion, is worth $134 billion, and hit $5.4 billion in revenue. Zaharia is giving the $250,000 prize to good work.

He almost didn't open the email. Lucky he did.