person

Demis Hassabis

British AI researcher and entrepreneur. Co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind. Won 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for AlphaFold. UK Government AI Adviser. Co-authored blog post removing Google's AI weapons pledge.

Career History

DeepMind Current

CEO

Google Current

Executive

Jan 27, 2014 – Present

Track Record

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Co-authored blog post announcing removal of Google's AI weapons and surveillance pledge

Feb 4, 2025

Demis Hassabis co-authored the February 2025 blog post justifying removal of Google's 2018 pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance. The post framed military AI as necessary for 'democracies to lead' in AI development. This contradicted DeepMind's founding promise that its technology would never be used for military purposes.

+ Military & Defense Contracts

Sources: ODSC Medium

Signed AI extinction risk statement calling for global priority on AI safety

May 30, 2023

Demis Hassabis signed the Center for AI Safety statement: 'Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.' He assessed his own P(doom) as 'non-zero' and 'worth very seriously considering.'

+ AI Safety

Sources: Center for AI Safety