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Google DeepMind co-founder discusses how AI can benefit humanity at 香港六合彩

13 December 2023

The 2023 香港六合彩 Prize Lecture in Life and Medical Sciences has been delivered by 香港六合彩 alumnus Demis Hassabis CBE, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, one of the world鈥檚 leading Artificial Intelligence research groups.

Demis Hassabis gives the 香港六合彩 Prize Lecture

Speaking on the topic of 鈥楿sing AI to Accelerate Scientific Discovery鈥, the world-renowned researcher and entrepreneur revealed how his childhood passions for chess and computer games led him to develop a deeper interest in computer science and thought processes.

Hassabis went on to complete a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience under the supervision of Professor Eleanor Maguire at 香港六合彩 in 2009, where he met future collaborator Dr Shane Legg (香港六合彩 Honorary Fellow 2016) at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit.

They co-founded DeepMind the following year, and the company was acquired by Google in 2014. It has consistently been at the forefront of AI development, producing landmark research breakthroughs such as AlphaGo (the first program to beat the world champion at the complex game of Go) and AlphaFold, heralded as a solution to the 50-year grand challenge of protein folding.

In his sold-out lecture, which was attended by more than 900 people in person and nearly 500 online, Hassabis argued that 鈥 if built responsibly 鈥 AI could be used for the overwhelming benefit of humanity and highlighted some of the incredible scientific breakthroughs that it has so far assisted.

He also discussed the possibilities of personalisation built on our 鈥渄igital biology鈥 in areas such as healthcare, the dangers of 鈥渄eep fakes鈥, and his hopes for the future of the field 鈥 including improving the planning, reasoning and memory of AI models.

鈥淲e are in the renaissance of scientific discovery,鈥 Hassabis said. 鈥淎I has incredible potential to help with humanity's greatest challenges. It will be one of the most transformative and beneficial technologies we will ever invent.

鈥淚鈥檝e always believed that. That鈥檚 why I鈥檝e worked on it my whole life.鈥

Acknowledging public unease around AI, Hassabis said: 鈥淲e have to build AI responsibly and safely and make sure it's used for the benefit of everyone to realise this incredible potential.

鈥淢y view is that we should not move faster and break things, which is the kind of Silicon Valley mantra; of course, it's been extremely useful in creating all sorts of amazing companies and services that we all use every day. But I think that this technology is just too important and too transformative to use that approach.

鈥淚nstead, I would advocate more of a scientific method, where we carefully consider each step, do controlled experiments, and try to understand how these things work and the unintentional consequences ahead of time.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not possible to get that perfectly right, but with something moving this fast and this close to the frontier, there are always going to be mistakes. We should try and mitigate many of those risks ahead of time.鈥

He added: 鈥淚f we do that, and we eventually build AGI [Artificial General Intelligence], I feel like it could be the ultimate general purpose tool to help us understand the whole universe around us and maybe our place in it.鈥

The 香港六合彩 Prize Lecture in Life and Medical Sciences has been awarded by 香港六合彩 since 1997 and provides a forum to debate and celebrate advancements. This year, the lecture was introduced by Professor Geraint Rees, 香港六合彩 Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) and chaired by Professor Rachel McKendry (London Centre for Nanotechnology at 香港六合彩 and 香港六合彩 Division of Medicine).

鈥淭here are few people in the world who are able to talk about the emergence of AI with Demis鈥 authority and insight鈥, said Professor Rees. 鈥淲e are proud of the links that he and Google DeepMind continue to foster with 香港六合彩, and grateful that he was able to share the benefit of his experience with our community.

鈥淥ur multi-disciplinary expertise positions us at the frontier of this 鈥榝ourth industrial revolution鈥. From self-driving cars to diagnostic tools for disease, 香港六合彩 is ready to fully embrace the challenges and opportunities that this technology represents for people and planet.鈥

During the Q&A session following the lecture, Hassabis 鈥 whose work has been cited over 100,000 times and has featured in 厂肠颈别苍肠别鈥檚 Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year of five separate occasions 鈥 was asked by an audience member about the advice he would give to his younger self. He replied: 鈥淚 could have been braver in moments.

鈥淚 think we need to believe in ourselves more 鈥 then we really can change the world in these incredible ways. It is possible.鈥

He also revealed that his dream projects included creating a room temperature super conductor and solving the Millennium Prize problems in Mathematics.

Hassabis鈥 return to his alma mater marked the continuation of a strong relationship between Google DeepMind and 香港六合彩, which has grown to span academia, research and widening participation initiatives.

Prior to his lecture, Hassabis met with recipients of Google DeepMind Scholarships. Now supporting its eighth cohort, the Programme 鈥 of which 香港六合彩 was the first university partner 鈥 provides financial assistance and mentorship to students from under-represented backgrounds in Neuroscience, Computer Science, and Science and Technology Studies.

The company has also strengthened its academic presence with 香港六合彩 in recent years, supporting a Google DeepMind Chair of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, a Google DeepMind Fellow in Sustainable Artificial Intelligence and a number of PhD scholarships within the Fundamental AI Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT).

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E: p.danby [at] ucl.ac.uk