The Tech Download Demis Hassabis: The Man Behind Google's AI machine
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Jan 15, 2026 
Demis Hassabis, Co-founder and CEO of DeepMind, shares insights into the cutting-edge world of AI. He discusses how scaling models enhances AI capabilities, yet true general intelligence remains elusive due to gaps in consistency and originality. Demis emphasizes the importance of combining different types of models for AGI and foresees significant advancements in the next five to ten years. He also reflects on AI’s role in solving global challenges and warns of potential societal risks, all while highlighting DeepMind’s pioneering work like AlphaFold.
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Scaling Helps But May Not Be Sufficient
- Current large models show strong returns from scale but gains are slower than years ago.
- Demis believes one or two new innovations plus scaling may be needed to reach AGI.
Jagged Intelligence Limits Creativity
- Today's models are "jagged": excellent in some tasks and brittle in others.
- Demis says general intelligence needs consistency, online learning, and true originality.
World Models Enable Internal Simulation
- World models simulate physics and causality to test hypotheses internally.
- Demis views video and interactive generators as embryonic world models for planning and reasoning.