There's a sequence of stories/books that I like on the subject in that the later ones reference the earlier ones.

We start off with BLIT. http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/blit.htm https://www.nature.com/articles/44964 https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/different-kinds-o...

That wasn't so much as a story about AGI, just a starting spot.

Then we go to Accelerando. https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/acceler...

> ... Luckily, infowar turns out to be more survivable than nuclear war – especially once it is discovered that a simple anti-aliasing filter stops nine out of ten neural-wetware-crashing Langford fractals from causing anything worse than a mild headache.

Accelerando ends up with AGI.

And while its not a sequel to Accelerando... Glasshouse https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17866.Glasshouse

At this point, spoilers. So the "why's" of each are going to be rot13 ( https://rot13.com )

Tynffubhfr rkcyberf va vgf onpxfgbel fbzr bs gur cbffvovyvgvrf bs jne jvgu ercyvpngvba ninvynoyr - vg qbrfa'g qrny jvgu NTVf nf fhpu. Gurer'f Phevbhf Lryybj, ohg gung'f abg gur fhcre uhzna bs gur Ivyr Bssfcevat, ohg vgf... fbzrguvat. Gur N-tngrf naq G-tngrf naq gur prafbeobgf vasrpgvat gur zvaq bs crbcyr jub tb guebhtu gurz. Naq hygvzngryl, onggyrf orgjrra guvatf gung urneyq va n qnex ntr jvgu fb znal ybffrf.

We're going to take a detour over to some Verner Vinge. We'll start off with True Names and Other Dangers - https://ia801004.us.archive.org/0/items/truenamesvingevernor... as one view, and the other with the Peace War and Marooned in Realtime. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/167844.Across_Realtim...

True names is directly applicable, but Realtime is a view of what the singularity could be. It is also remarkably devoid of AI.

And next, we head over to Implied Spaces https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2059573

> “V naq zl pbasrqrengrf,” Nevfgvqr fnvq, “qvq bhe orfg gb cerirag gung qrterr bs nhgbabzl nzbat negvsvpvny vagryyvtraprf. Jr znqr gur qrpvfvba gb ghea njnl sebz gur Ivatrna Fvathynevgl orsber zbfg crbcyr rira xarj jung vg jnf. Ohg—” Ur znqr n trfgher jvgu uvf unaqf nf vs qebccvat n onyy. “—V pynvz ab zber guna gur nirentr funer bs jvfqbz. Jr pbhyq unir znqr zvfgnxrf.”

Juvyr gur Ivatrna fvathynevgl unf orra niregrq - gur fglyr bs gur jbeyq vfa'g bar bs Ernygvzr be Nppryrenaqb. Jr unir funpxyrq gur NVf orsber gurl pbhyq tebj vagb gur Ivyr Puvyqera bs Nppryrenaqb. Ubjrire, gur jnef gung ner entrq ner sevtugravatyl fvzvyne gb gubfr qrfpevorq va Tynffubhfr - naq zber.

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Two other AGI books that aren't part of the "this has ideas that progress from one to the other."

The first is The Turing Option by Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1807642.The_Turing_Optio...

The second is When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One: Release 2.0 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/939176.When_H_A_R_L_I_E_...

I won't say that either are good and as both are trying to be a bit more in the "hard" end of science fiction, as such they've both not aged quite right for the direction that AI has taken over the past decades and so while the technology that seemed fantastic at the time now seems to be... kind of like watching Flash Gordon.