Demis Hassabis

Demis Hassabis is a British computer scientist, AI researcher, and entrepreneur. He co-founded and serves as CEO of DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs and is a UK Government AI Advisor. 

In Oct 2024, Demis Hassabis was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with John Jumper, for their work in protein structure prediction through AlphaFold.

In 2011, Hassabis co-founded DeepMind, aiming to solve intelligence and apply AI to broader problems. DeepMind’s notable achievements include the development of AlphaGo, which defeated Go champion Lee Sedol in 2016, and AlphaFold, an AI system capable of predicting protein structures with high accuracy. The latter was recognised as a solution to the long-standing protein folding problem.

Under Hassabis’s leadership, DeepMind has advanced AI research, particularly in deep reinforcement learning, with applications in various scientific fields. In 2023, DeepMind merged with Google Brain to form Google DeepMind, focusing on developing general AI systems. 

Hassabis has been honoured with Canada Gairdner International Award and the Lasker Award. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted in 2024 for his services to AI.

Hassabis demonstrated an early talent for games and programming, becoming a recognised chess master by age 13. He began his professional career at Bullfrog Productions, later joining Lionhead Studios and founding Elixir Studios.

Hassabis completed his undergraduate studies in computer science at Cambridge University, where he led the chess team. He later earned a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from University College London, followed by postdoctoral work at MIT and Harvard. His research on autobiographical memory and amnesia has been published in top scientific journals.

Demis Hassabis was born on 27 July 1976 in London, England. His father is of Greek Cypriot descent, and his mother is Singaporean. Growing up in North London, Hassabis was recognised as a child prodigy in chess from the age of four. By the age of 13, he had achieved master's standard with an Elo rating of 2300, captaining many of the England junior chess teams.

Between 1988 and 1990, Hassabis attended Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, a boys' grammar school in North London. He was later home-schooled by his parents, during which time he purchased his first computer, a ZX Spectrum 48K, funded by his chess winnings. Hassabis taught himself to program using books. Subsequently, he continued his education at Christ's College, Finchley, a state-funded comprehensive school in East Finchley, North London. He completed his A-level and scholarship-level exams two years early at the ages of 15 and 16, respectively.

At the request of Cambridge University, due to his young age, Hassabis took a gap year, during which he began his computer games career at Bullfrog Productions. He started by level designing on the game Syndicate and, at 17, co-designed and led programming on the 1994 game Theme Park alongside Peter Molyneux. Theme Park, a simulation video game, sold several million copies and inspired a genre of simulation sandbox games. Hassabis earned enough from his gap year to finance his university education.

Hassabis then left Bullfrog to study at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he completed the Computer Science Tripos and graduated in 1997 with a Double First. During his time at Cambridge, he represented the university in the Oxford-Cambridge varsity chess matches in 1995, 1996, and 1997, winning a half-blue.

After graduating from Cambridge, Hassabis worked at Lionhead Studios, founded by Peter Molyneux. At Lionhead, he worked as the lead AI programmer on the 2001 "god" game Black & White. In 1998, Hassabis left Lionhead to establish Elixir Studios, an independent games developer in London. As the CEO and executive designer, he worked on the BAFTA-nominated games Republic: The Revolution and Evil Genius.

Elixir Studios

Elixir's first game, Republic: The Revolution, was a political simulation game with a highly ambitious AI simulation of an entire fictional country. Despite its reduced final scope, it received lukewarm reviews. Evil Genius, a tongue-in-cheek Bond villain simulator, fared better with a Metacritic score of 75/100. In April 2005, the intellectual property and technology rights were sold to various publishers, leading to the studio's closure.

Neuroscience Research

Following Elixir Studios, Hassabis returned to academia, obtaining a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from University College London (UCL) in 2009 under the supervision of Eleanor Maguire. His research focused on the neural mechanisms underpinning imagination, memory, and amnesia. He demonstrated that patients with hippocampal damage, known to cause amnesia, were also unable to imagine new experiences, establishing a link between imagination and episodic memory recall.

DeepMind

Hassabis is the CEO and co-founder of DeepMind, an AI startup founded in 2010 with Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman. DeepMind's mission is to "solve intelligence" and use it to solve broader problems. The company aims to combine systems neuroscience insights with machine learning developments to create general-purpose learning algorithms towards artificial general intelligence (AGI). 

DeepMind has achieved significant milestones, including training a Deep Q-Network (DQN) to play Atari games at a superhuman level and creating AlphaGo, which defeated world champion Lee Sedol in the game of Go. In 2014, Google acquired DeepMind for £400 million. DeepMind has also made advances in protein folding with AlphaFold, winning the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) competitions in 2018 and 2020.

Hassabis's research has been recognised multiple times, with his work listed in Science Magazine's Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of the Year on four occasions. He has received numerous awards, including the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2023), the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (2023), and the Canada Gairdner International Award (2023). DeepMind's achievements have also garnered several accolades, including the Cannes Lion Grand Prix for AlphaGo and the WIRED Innovation in AI Award.

In 2024, Hassabis was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with John Jumper and David Baker, for their work in protein structure prediction through AlphaFold. This AI-driven breakthrough has far-reaching implications in drug discovery and other scientific fields.

Demis Hassabis continues to lead DeepMind as its CEO, advocating for the ethical use of AI and its potential to address the world's most pressing challenges, from healthcare to climate change.

Demis Hassabis envisions a world where artificial intelligence drives innovation across all sectors, enhancing human capabilities and solving complex global challenges. By advancing AI research and applications, he aims to create technologies that are not only groundbreaking but also ethical and accessible to all. His commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and education seeks to democratise AI, fostering a new generation of thinkers and leaders who can leverage AI for societal good. Ultimately, his vision is to harness the power of AI to improve lives, drive sustainable development, and create a more equitable and prosperous future for everyone.

In Oct 2024, Demis Hassabis was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with John Jumper and David Baker, for their work in protein structure prediction through AlphaFold. Demis was conferred an honorary degree by the University of Oxford and received a UK knighthood for his services to artificial intelligence. In 2023, he was awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Canada Gairdner International Award, and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his groundbreaking work on AlphaFold. The previous year in 2022, he was honoured with the Global Swiss AI Award and the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine. Additionally, he was a recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award, the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, and the IRI Medal. In 2021, he was elected an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His accolades also include the 2020 Pius XI Medal from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, recognition as one of the 50 most influential people in Britain by British GQ magazine, and the Dan David Prize - Future Award. In 2019, he topped the UKtech50 list from Computer Weekly and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2018. His advisory roles include serving the UK's Government Office for Artificial Intelligence, and he holds honorary doctorates from Imperial College London and University College London. His earlier recognitions include being appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2017, being listed in Time 100, and winning the Outstanding Achievement in Science and Technology at The Asian Awards. He has also been honoured by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Achievement, and the Royal Society of Arts. His influence has been acknowledged by WIRED, the Financial Times, and the London Evening Standard.