Nobel Prize to Demis Hassabis
NOBEL PRIZE TO DEMIS HASSABIS
I am really excited!
I predicted it, but I thought they would give it to him many years from now.
Demis Hassabis has earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the application of AI to protein architecture (his AlphaFold), but this is just one of the many wonderful things that Demis is preparing for us; he could win more Nobel Prizes in various disciplines.
I have known him since 1997 and I am very proud to be his friend!
I met him at the first Mind Sports Olympiad and it was immediately clear that he was not just another player, but a true genius. And indeed, he has won the World Championship of Pentamind, the Olympic combined for the most eclectic, five times. In a way, first of all, he can perhaps be considered the strongest player of all time!
Then I met him pretty much every year and we became friends, I somehow experienced his evolution up close.
I am pessimistic about the fate of humanity, but if I had to bet on how we can save ourselves I would put all my money on him; his stated intention is to solve the world’s problems and maybe even understand some of the secrets of the universe. Literally. And he is doing that.
I think he can win several Nobel prizes, in different disciplines.
And the great thing is that gaming has been the key element in his research, it is with games that his AI has grown. And it is with Go that it has become famous.
Dario De Toffoli
Here a little article from 2014 with a small presentation:
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2014/01/29/google-deepmind-dietro-ce-il-genio-dei-giochi-hassabis/
Here is a video of a chat we had in 2015:
Here another little article from 2016:
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2016/02/13/intelligenza-artificiale-uomo-battuto-anche-a-go-cambiera-il-mondo/
Here the full film on AlphaGo’s adventure:
Here a recent and brilliant interview, which may give an idea of Demis’ goals:
Here the Google Deepmind site, for those who wish to delve deeper: https://deepmind.google/