AI in practice

Deepmind co-founder Demis Hassabis reportedly 'deeply frustrated' by Google AI Deepmind merger

Matthias Bastian
Deempind founder Demis Hassabis

George Gillams bei Flickr, CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

Demis Hassabis, founder of AI lab DeepMind, is reportedly "deeply frustrated" with Google's merger and focus on commercializing AI, insiders tell The Information. The merger of Google Brain and DeepMind has not gone smoothly, and tensions remain. Hassabis even considered leaving Google before the AI units were merged into a new lab. He also reportedly told a colleague that it might be difficult for Google to catch up with OpenAI's video AI Sora. Hassabis reportedly made some organizational changes to restore the importance of pure AI research at Google. Hassabis also complained about the exodus of employees to OpenAI and the coverage of these departures. The pressure to show progress in AI may have led to an exaggeration of the capabilities of DeepMind's systems. But Hassabis remains convinced that artificial general intelligence is within reach.

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