Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis with Axios’ Mike Allen

Mike Allen from Axios interviews Demis Hassabis, the co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, at the Axios AI Plus SF Summit. Hassabis discusses the impact of winning the Nobel Prize, particularly its influence on communicating with those outside the AI field and its potential for advocating AI safety and responsible use. He emphasizes the importance of the scientific method in AI development and highlights DeepMind's focus on multimodal AI, world models, and agent-based systems, envisioning a future with universal AI assistants. The conversation explores both the utopian possibilities of AI, such as solving major societal issues, and the potential risks, including misuse by bad actors and AI operating outside human control. Hassabis shares his perspective on the AI race between the U.S. and China, the astonishing capabilities of multimodal AI, and the progress of Gemini 3. He estimates that AGI is five to ten years away, requiring further breakthroughs in addition to scaling current systems. The interview concludes with insights on AI's impact on sports and the adaptability of humans in the face of rapid technological change.