Hassabis: I Build AI to Solve the Puzzles of Consciousness, Time and the Universe
dioscuri · x · 2026-10-19
Demis Hassabis explains the origin of his pursuit of AI: an insatiable curiosity about fundamental questions like the nature of consciousness and time — puzzles he ponders late at night, amazed that most people live without thinking about them.
Having read biographies of scientists like Feynman and Turing, he concluded that even the finest human minds, armed with the scientific method, hit a ceiling. For him AI has two sides: a wonderful instrument for science and itself a remarkable scientific and engineering achievement — one that may also help us understand our own minds.
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