COVER STORY FEATURE
A deep dive into
DeepMind
Lily Pfaffenzeller delves into the development of DeepMind, the company that seems to be solving everything using artificial intelligence.
Who is the most intelligent person you know? A classmate? Curie? Einstein? Whoever you thought of, could there be someone even more intelligent? Someone so smart that they could take the problems plaguing humanity for millennia, and solve them in mere seconds? Someone so genius, that they could face the most complex enigmas of science and technology, regardless of a complete lack of training or knowledge? At first glance, this is a seemingly impossible concept: to concentrate this level of intelligence into a single locale, we would have to replicate and perfect the human mind. And yet in 2010, the company DeepMind succeeded. Well, almost. Although DeepMind’s AI systems are not 100% perfect (for now), the intelligence they have built is already redefining the world as we know it. From defeating chess grandmasters to unravelling the intricacies of protein folding, this is only the beginning of what DeepMind has to offer. Let’s dive a bit deeper into DeepMind’s past, present and future, uncovering the potential of their artificial intelligence.
In the beginning... Around 14 years ago, an idea drifted into the mind of Demis Hassabis. It's worth noting that his mind had already borne several successes: the former child chess prodigy completed his A levels two years early, and received a Double First from Cambridge University in Computer Science. On top of that, his PhD from UCL was followed by two postdocs from Harvard and MIT (you know, the usual). Amid his education, Hassabis had also become a videogame designer, with his first simulation game “Theme Park” that he had coded at 17 becoming a multi-million sensation. But this idea would be his greatest yet: “What if you could solve intelligence, and use that to solve everything else?” he wondered. Two years later, Hassabis embarked on a mission to do exactly that. Together with fellow researcher Shane Legg and childhood friend Mustafa Sullyman, the trio began building an army of scientists, researchers and ethicists, all working with Artificial Intelligence. Thus, the company DeepMind was born.
2010
2014
DeepMind is cofounded by Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman
Google buys DeepMind for around $500 million
2013
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to intelligence shown by machines which can be utilised, manipulated and developed to automate intellectual tasks usually performed by humans.
An illustration of Demis Hassabis by the artist Lauren Crow
DeepMind publishes research on their AI systems that can beat Atari games 38
