Nick Clegg, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Meta executive, has criticized the tech industry for focusing on hypothetical superintelligence risks. He argues that the real issue is the concentration of AI power among a small number of US and Chinese corporations.
In a March 2026 interview, Clegg dismissed the concept of superintelligence as hype. He also criticized UK AI safety summits for prioritizing apocalyptic scenarios over practical opportunities and questioned the relevance of UK AI sovereignty debates.
Since leaving Meta in early 2025, Clegg has joined the board of Nscale, a UK-based data-center startup backed by Nvidia. In September 2026, Nscale filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange with a valuation of approximately $14.6 billion.
Clegg holds approximately 900,000 shares in Nscale, which accounts for about 0.12% of the company's stock. This stake is valued at approximately $18 million, positioning him as an investor in the infrastructure layer of the AI industry.
Clegg advocates for a focus on agentic AI systems capable of performing tasks like supply chain management or contract negotiation. He believes the industry should prioritize these commercially significant developments over concerns about machine consciousness.
