NextFin news, ATHENS, Greece — On Friday, Google's DeepMind CEO and 2024 Nobel laureate Demis Hassabis stated that the most vital skill for the next generation will be "learning how to learn" as artificial intelligence rapidly transforms education, careers, and daily life.
Speaking at an event held in an ancient Roman theater at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Hassabis highlighted the accelerating pace of technological change driven by AI, noting that predicting the future is increasingly difficult. "It’s very hard to predict the future, like 10 years from now, in normal cases. It’s even harder today, given how fast AI is changing, even week by week," he said. "The only thing you can say for certain is that huge change is coming."
The neuroscientist and former chess prodigy, who co-founded DeepMind in 2010 and led its acquisition by Google in 2014, also discussed the potential arrival of artificial general intelligence (AGI) within a decade. AGI refers to machines that can perform a wide range of tasks as well as humans. Hassabis said this development could bring dramatic advances and a future of "radical abundance," while acknowledging associated risks.
Hassabis stressed the importance of "meta-skills," such as understanding how to learn and optimizing approaches to new subjects, alongside traditional disciplines like math, science, and humanities. "One thing we’ll know for sure is you’re going to have to continually learn ... throughout your career," he added.
Hassabis shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing AI systems that accurately predict protein folding, a breakthrough with significant implications for medicine and drug discovery.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis joined Hassabis at the Athens event after discussing expanding AI use in government services. Mitsotakis warned that unchecked growth of large tech companies could exacerbate global financial inequality. "Unless people actually see benefits, personal benefits, to this (AI) revolution, they will tend to become very skeptical," he said. "And if they see ... obscene wealth being created within very few companies, this is a recipe for significant social unrest."
Mitsotakis also thanked Hassabis, whose father is Greek Cypriot, for rescheduling the presentation to avoid conflicting with the European basketball championship semifinal between Greece and Turkey.
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