Born in London to a Greek Cypriot father and a Singaporean mother, Hassabis excelled academically. He earned a double first in computer science from Cambridge University, later launching his own video game company. His intellectual curiosity led him to pursue a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, which became a stepping stone to co-founding the AI startup DeepMind. This venture was eventually acquired by Google for £400 million in 2014.
Now 48 years old, Hassabis holds the position of Chief Executive at Google DeepMind, the company’s advanced AI unit. He was knighted in 2023 for his services to artificial intelligence, and his work has culminated in the Nobel Prize, which he shares with colleague John Jumper and US academic David Baker. Their award stems from groundbreaking work in using AI to predict and design the structure of proteins, a significant achievement in both the scientific and AI communities.
Hassabis has long emphasised the connection between gaming and artificial intelligence, describing games as an entryway to the world of AI. His early passion for chess, coupled with a fascination for chess computers, sparked ideas about how machines learn, which would later influence his pioneering work in AI. His startup, DeepMind, achieved global recognition by building AI systems that outperformed humans in complex games like Go, chess, and Starcraft II.
Beyond gaming and research, Hassabis’s expertise is highly valued by governments and thought leaders. In 2020, he was called upon to provide advice to the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies during the Covid-19 pandemic. His reputation as a forward-thinking AI expert led figures like Dominic Cummings and Tony Blair to seek his counsel on national and global matters.
As a leader in Google’s AI research, Hassabis is at the forefront of the global AI race, with major US tech companies such as Google, Meta, OpenAI, and Microsoft competing for breakthroughs. While deeply involved in advancing AI technologies, Hassabis is acutely aware of the risks. In recent years, he has voiced concern over the potential dangers of AI, likening its risks to those of pandemics and nuclear war. In 2023, he signed a statement urging global leaders to treat the threat of uncontrolled AI systems as seriously as they treat other existential challenges, such as climate change.
However, Hassabis remains optimistic about AI’s potential for good. The Nobel Prize itself is a testament to this, particularly his work with AlphaFold, an AI system that accurately predicts protein structures. This development has far-reaching implications for medical research and drug development, showcasing the profound ways in which AI can benefit society.
Despite his caution regarding AI’s dangers, Hassabis continues to champion its capacity to address complex global problems. His leadership in both AI innovation and ethical considerations ensures that he will remain a key figure in the future of technology.