DeepMind's Hassabis Says AI Could Transform Science 10 Times Faster Than the Industrial Revolution
Updated
Updated · Good Morning America · May 20
DeepMind's Hassabis Says AI Could Transform Science 10 Times Faster Than the Industrial Revolution
7 articles · Updated · Good Morning America · May 20
Demis Hassabis said AI could usher in a new era for humanity, accelerating breakthroughs in medicine, energy and scientific discovery at a pace he likened to 10 times the Industrial Revolution's impact.
900 million users now use Google's Gemini model, up from 400 million a year ago, while daily requests have risen more than sevenfold—evidence of how quickly the technology is spreading.
Hassabis said that same acceleration will disrupt jobs as well as create new opportunities, arguing that governments, academia and civil society should help shape how the transition unfolds.
On energy, he said major tech companies including Google, Meta and Microsoft are building their own infrastructure so AI power costs are not passed to consumers, and predicted AI will save more energy than it uses within 10 years.
He also rejected the idea that a small group should determine AI's future, calling instead for international standards as the technology's economic and social reach widens.
As tech giants build private power grids for AI, will this accelerate climate change before AI can help solve it?
If AI quadruples worker productivity, what is the economic plan for the millions of jobs that may become redundant?
With AI still failing basic reasoning tests, is the 'singularity' vision just marketing for massive energy consumption?
From AlphaFold’s 8 Million Protein Structures to AGI: DeepMind’s Vision for AI’s Scientific and Societal Transformation by 2036
Overview
DeepMind’s advancements in artificial intelligence are rapidly transforming scientific discovery and building foundations for future societal progress. A standout example is AlphaFold, which has revolutionized structural biology by enabling researchers worldwide to predict over 8 million protein structures. This tool has empowered thousands of scientists, accelerating hypothesis testing and leading to a 50% increase in protein structure submissions to the Protein Data Bank compared to those using other advanced methods. These achievements highlight how AI is not only advancing our understanding of science but also driving innovation and collaboration across the global research community.