Opinion: Demis Hassabis’ new role exposes Google’s AI balancing act
📰 source: cnbc_topnews · 💼 business
demis hassabis is stepping back from ceo of google deepmind to become chair, while alphabet's chief scientist is leaving. investors reacted negatively and the share price dropped after wednesday's announcement.
hassabis, who founded deepmind in london and sold it to google in 2014, says the move lets him focus on strategic agi matters and advise his successor koray kavukcuoglu, plus work on his drug discovery company isomorphic labs. in a blog post he said agi is 'close at hand.' he told cnbc in december the competitive environment is 'ferocious,' and alphabet plans to spend up to $205 billion this year.
the shift highlights the tension between deepmind's scientific mission and google's need to commercialize ai fast. hassabis has long pushed for safety and external oversight, which his move may signal a return to.
why it matters: hassabis's move to chair signals google's pivot toward commercial ai, with investors eyeing $205b spend and agi race.
source: cnbc_topnews
sentiment: +0.00 · impact: 0.40