Google DeepMind enters a new era as co-founder Demis Hassabis shifts AI role
Observers express concern that the division has lost its independence and commercial reality has taken over When Sir Demis Hassabis said AI had brought the world to a “pivotal moment in human history” last month, he knew another big change was imminent. This shift was closer to home. The Nobel prize-winning head of Google DeepMind, Google’s AI unit, announced this week he was relinquishing his…
Demis Hassabis is stepping down as CEO of Google DeepMind, the AI unit of Google's parent company Alphabet. He will become chair of DeepMind and take on the role of chief scientist at Alphabet. According to Computerworld, Hassabis will focus on shaping the future of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Hassabis' new role will enable him to concentrate on AGI, which Google defines as a machine that can understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can. He has been a strong promoter of AGI and has predicted that it will be a viable technology within three years.
Koray Kavukcuoglu, currently DeepMind's CTO, will take over as CEO, reporting directly to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Hassabis will also continue to lead research at Google spin-off Isomorphic Labs, which works on drug discovery. Some observers have expressed concern that DeepMind has lost its independence, with commercial reality taking over.
Brief written by urgent.news from Guardian Technology, Guardian Business, Computerworld, Business Insider, Techmeme — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
