Episode
#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
2:17:02
Published: Fri Jul 01 2022
Description
Demis Hassabis is the CEO and co-founder of DeepMind. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Mailgun: https://lexfridman.com/mailgun - InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off - Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off - Indeed: https://indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit - Magic Spoon: https://magicspoon.com/lex and use code LEX to get $5 off EPISODE LINKS: Demis's Twitter: https://twitter.com/demishassabis DeepMind's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeepMind DeepMind's Instagram: https://instagram.com/deepmind DeepMind's Website: https://deepmind.com Plasma control paper: https://nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04301-9 Quantum simulation paper: https://science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj6511 The Emperor's New Mind (book): https://amzn.to/3bx03lo Life Ascending (book): https://amzn.to/3AhUP7z PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (07:17) - Turing Test (14:43) - Video games (36:18) - Simulation (38:29) - Consciousness (43:29) - AlphaFold (57:09) - Solving intelligence (1:09:28) - Open sourcing AlphaFold & MuJoCo (1:19:34) - Nuclear fusion (1:23:38) - Quantum simulation (1:26:46) - Physics (1:30:13) - Origin of life (1:34:52) - Aliens (1:42:59) - Intelligent life (1:46:08) - Conscious AI (1:59:23) - Power (2:03:53) - Advice for young people (2:11:59) - Meaning of life
Chapters
Demis Hassabis, CEO and Co-Founder of DeepMind, talks about the groundbreaking work of his company, including AlphaZero and AlphaFold2, and the future of artificial intelligence.
00:00 - 01:53 (01:53)
Summary
Demis Hassabis, CEO and Co-Founder of DeepMind, talks about the groundbreaking work of his company, including AlphaZero and AlphaFold2, and the future of artificial intelligence.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The Turing test has been a significant influence on AI, but it's not a rigorous test as perceived.
01:53 - 10:10 (08:17)
Summary
The Turing test has been a significant influence on AI, but it's not a rigorous test as perceived. Instead, a general test covering the entire cognitive space is preferred to test AI capabilities on a range of tasks and see if it reaches human-level or above performance.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The speaker discusses the philosophy behind the Turing test and believes that if a machine can exceed human cognitive capabilities in areas such as language, creativity, and actions, then it has achieved true intelligence.
10:10 - 21:56 (11:46)
Summary
The speaker discusses the philosophy behind the Turing test and believes that if a machine can exceed human cognitive capabilities in areas such as language, creativity, and actions, then it has achieved true intelligence. Additionally, the speaker reflects on the possibility of AI systems in the future having a sense of humor about their own intelligence and the idea that language is essential for human-machine friendships.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
Games like chess are super efficient as a testing ground for AI, as they can be hand-coded and distilled into cool programs using complex knowledge from grandmasters.
21:56 - 28:59 (07:02)
Summary
Games like chess are super efficient as a testing ground for AI, as they can be hand-coded and distilled into cool programs using complex knowledge from grandmasters.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The use of AI in game design can help to auto-balance games that would normally take thousands of hours from human testers.
28:59 - 36:07 (07:08)
Summary
The use of AI in game design can help to auto-balance games that would normally take thousands of hours from human testers. Additionally, AI can play games millions of times to self-balance the rules better than any human could ever do.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The speaker discusses how understanding basic building blocks of biology can help simulate and model larger, more complex systems within the human body, potentially unlocking insights into the mind's unique qualities.
36:07 - 46:35 (10:28)
Summary
The speaker discusses how understanding basic building blocks of biology can help simulate and model larger, more complex systems within the human body, potentially unlocking insights into the mind's unique qualities. Building AI can also aid in this understanding by allowing for comparisons between machine intelligence and human consciousness.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
Proteins are like little chemical computers with an incredible ability to perform complex computations very quickly, such as folding in various ways to create different conformations.
46:35 - 51:11 (04:35)
Summary
Proteins are like little chemical computers with an incredible ability to perform complex computations very quickly, such as folding in various ways to create different conformations. This could have major implications for understanding diseases caused by misfolding proteins such as Alzheimer's.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The AlphaGo, AlphaGo Zero, AlphaZero, MuZero, and AlphaFold all evolved from handcrafting some hard-coded constraints around physics and biology with a small end-to-end learning piece or a small learning piece, and growing that learning piece until it consumes the whole system, while using various tricks like self-distillation, to make the training set bigger.
51:11 - 56:48 (05:36)
Summary
The AlphaGo, AlphaGo Zero, AlphaZero, MuZero, and AlphaFold all evolved from handcrafting some hard-coded constraints around physics and biology with a small end-to-end learning piece or a small learning piece, and growing that learning piece until it consumes the whole system, while using various tricks like self-distillation, to make the training set bigger.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The speaker emphasizes the importance of using all available sources of information, including neuroscience, to solve challenging problems in AI such as developing human-level intelligence.
56:48 - 1:09:35 (12:46)
Summary
The speaker emphasizes the importance of using all available sources of information, including neuroscience, to solve challenging problems in AI such as developing human-level intelligence. AI has the potential to be the perfect description language for the messy and complex field of biology as it enables dynamic and emergent solutions.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
Alpha Fold, a protein-folding prediction AI, is a remarkable tool that helps researchers acquire new knowledge.
1:09:35 - 1:15:22 (05:47)
Summary
Alpha Fold, a protein-folding prediction AI, is a remarkable tool that helps researchers acquire new knowledge. It combines experimental data and predictions to create extraordinary knowledge about protein folding, with consultations from different bioethicists experts to ensure its safety.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
Many breakthroughs in the past and coming decades will be at the intersection of different subjects.
1:15:22 - 1:21:47 (06:24)
Summary
Many breakthroughs in the past and coming decades will be at the intersection of different subjects. Unique ways of putting things together, that spark new ideas, cannot be averaged from things that are known.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The problem of simulating large materials can be tackled using reinforcement learning prediction problem which can simulate larger and more complex molecules to understand how they interact with each other, the electron clouds and their resulting shapes.
1:21:47 - 1:26:26 (04:39)
Summary
The problem of simulating large materials can be tackled using reinforcement learning prediction problem which can simulate larger and more complex molecules to understand how they interact with each other, the electron clouds and their resulting shapes. This was done in a Nature study last year where plasma was held in specific shapes using these approximations.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
There are many assumptions and uncertainties about time and its role in the universe.
1:26:26 - 1:34:21 (07:54)
Summary
There are many assumptions and uncertainties about time and its role in the universe. The unknowns surrounding time, gravity, consciousness, and life may eventually enable us to develop new experimental tools and test new theories.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The possibility of extraterrestrial life exists and as humans continue to advance through space exploration and AI, they will likely spread across the galaxy.
1:34:21 - 1:39:50 (05:28)
Summary
The possibility of extraterrestrial life exists and as humans continue to advance through space exploration and AI, they will likely spread across the galaxy. However, our attempts to detect signals may be limited by our current technology and understanding of what an alien civilization might look like.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The cost of having consciousness and a general purpose brain is massive, and as increasingly intelligent systems are built, people tend to anthropomorphize them, leading to impactful interactions that are missed when the systems are gone.
1:39:50 - 1:51:47 (11:57)
Summary
The cost of having consciousness and a general purpose brain is massive, and as increasingly intelligent systems are built, people tend to anthropomorphize them, leading to impactful interactions that are missed when the systems are gone. However, such systems do not possess consciousness in the same way higher animals do.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
Stuart Russell discusses the prerequisites required for AGI and the ethical concerns regarding decision-making for AGI and how we must acknowledge the potential that AI systems can go way beyond just tools.
1:51:47 - 2:01:25 (09:37)
Summary
Stuart Russell discusses the prerequisites required for AGI and the ethical concerns regarding decision-making for AGI and how we must acknowledge the potential that AI systems can go way beyond just tools.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The ultimate goal is to use AI to help solve many of the big challenges facing humanity, achieve radical abundance, cure diseases, and travel to the stars to find intelligent life.
2:01:25 - 2:06:31 (05:05)
Summary
The ultimate goal is to use AI to help solve many of the big challenges facing humanity, achieve radical abundance, cure diseases, and travel to the stars to find intelligent life. Identifying and pursuing one's true passions is crucial to making a difference in the world.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The speaker describes their approach to research as working during the small hours of the morning, where they do their thinking, reading, and writing research papers.
2:06:31 - 2:11:44 (05:12)
Summary
The speaker describes their approach to research as working during the small hours of the morning, where they do their thinking, reading, and writing research papers. They also highlight the importance of context switching and extending their research when needed despite the consequences.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The pursuit of knowledge and understanding the universe is a true virtue that allows us to comprehend the world and humanity better, despite the paradox of realizing how little we know despite learning more.
2:11:43 - 2:16:17 (04:33)
Summary
The pursuit of knowledge and understanding the universe is a true virtue that allows us to comprehend the world and humanity better, despite the paradox of realizing how little we know despite learning more. The universe seems to be structured in a way that permits and makes science possible, but the question remains as to why this is the case.
Episode#299 – Demis Hassabis: DeepMind
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
Damis Eshabas shares his perspective on how we are all important pieces in the puzzle of life and how our understanding of the world can be improved by learning from one another.
2:16:17 - 2:16:54 (00:37)
Summary
Damis Eshabas shares his perspective on how we are all important pieces in the puzzle of life and how our understanding of the world can be improved by learning from one another.