DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

The Cambridge Supervision System offers incredible opportunities for students to learn through individual attention, which I found more useful than lectures.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

Games have been a common thread throughout my life, influencing my career by training my mind, leading me to AI programming in the gaming industry, and now using games to train AI systems at DeepMind.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

Startups are fantastic vehicles for achieving a lot in a short time and can provide significant resources for scientific research, combining creative and technical ideas effectively.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

At DeepMind, we aimed to create a modern-day Bell Labs, demonstrating that cutting-edge research can thrive in a startup environment, blending ambitious thinking with top engineering. There should be a more fluid two-way system between academia and startups, especially when ideas are mature enough to be spun out easily.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

Cambridge students should focus on understanding themselves and how they learn best during their undergraduate years, as this will help them adapt to future changes in the job market.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

The next five to ten years will bring significant disruption and change due to technology, particularly AI, VR, AR, and quantum computing, creating huge opportunities for those who can adapt.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

AI could be the best tool ever for accelerating scientific discovery, marking the beginning of a new golden age of discovery powered by AI tools like AlphaFold.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

More than 2 million researchers worldwide now use AlphaFold, and it has had a significant impact on biology and medical research, but this is just the beginning of AI's potential in science.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

AI is expected to change mathematics significantly, with projects like AlphaProof focusing on proving conjectures and potentially leading to new interesting conjectures in the future.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

While AI is currently proving mathematical concepts, the future challenge is whether AI can propose interesting new hypotheses, which remains uncertain.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

When formulating a research strategy, it's important to balance intuition and empiricism with formalism to maximize the chances of making significant breakthroughs.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

Multidisciplinary research will be crucial in the next decade, combining expertise in areas like AI or machine learning with fields such as biology, chemistry, or mathematics.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

There's significant potential for breakthroughs by merging different subject areas, and I've always aimed to be multidisciplinary in my own work, integrating neuroscience, machine learning, and computer science.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

AI can be applied to almost any subject, but it's essential to deeply understand the specific field, whether it's economics or biology, to ask the right questions for effective application.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

Timing is critical when tackling problems; you want to be ahead of the field but not so far ahead that your ideas are irrelevant.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

Being open-minded and exposing yourself to a wide range of ideas is vital in research, as opportunities can arise from unexpected places.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

AI is one of the most transformative technologies humanity may ever invent, with the potential to benefit society significantly, especially in fields like medical research and biology.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

However, AI is a dual-purpose technology that can also be misused by bad actors, creating challenges in ensuring that beneficial applications are accessible while restricting harmful uses.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

As AI systems become more sophisticated, they will carry greater risks, necessitating international dialogue and cooperation to establish standards for their deployment.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

It's essential for all sectors of society, including social scientists, governments, and industry, to collaborate on AI development and regulation to ensure its responsible use.

DH

Demis Hassabis

04/25/25

@ Queens' College Cambridge

The initiation of international summits on AI is a positive step, fostering dialogue across various fields to shape the future of this technology responsibly.

Sir Demis Hassabis - The Future of AI and Scientific Discovery

Takeaways