AI in wrong hands could be 'used for harm', warns Sir Demis after Nobel prize win

Sir Demis Hassabis, who founded the London-based artificial quality start-up DeepMind, received the honour alongside American John Jumper, a elder probe idiosyncratic astatine the company

British machine idiosyncratic Sir Demis Hassabis has issued a informing that artificial quality (AI) could beryllium "used for harm" if it falls into the incorrect hands aft helium was awarded the Nobel Prize.

The 48-year-old laminitis of London-based AI start-up DeepMind, who has won the Nobel Prize successful Chemistry alongside American John Jumper, a elder probe idiosyncratic astatine the company, made these comments during a quality league pursuing the announcement of their award. Their "breakthrough" enactment connected proteins earned them this prestigious honour.

Sir Demis described AI arsenic a "very powerful" and "dual-purpose" technology with "extraordinary imaginable to beryllium 1 of the astir beneficial technologies for humanity". However, helium besides cautioned that it could "be utilized for harm" by "bad actors".

He urged: "We person to truly deliberation precise hard – arsenic these systems and techniques get much almighty – astir however to alteration and empower each of the astonishing benefits and bully usage cases whilst mitigating against the atrocious usage cases and the risks." While helium believes today’s AI systems are not dangerous, helium warned that this mightiness alteration successful the aboriginal arsenic these technologies go much precocious and get "human level" intelligence.

He added: "We are going to person to beryllium much and much cognisant of these risks and we request to commencement the probe connected that successful a truly large mode truthful that we are prepared for that." Alongside Dr Jumper, Sir Demis contributed to the improvement of an AI exemplary which helped lick 1 of biology’s biggest mysteries that has puzzled scientists for implicit 5 decades: however bash macromolecule structures form?

The Nobel prize has been jointly awarded to David Baker, of the University of Washington, who pioneered the method for designing proteins, and Sir Demis and Dr Jumper, who successful 2020 presented AlphaFold2. This AI exemplary was developed by their institution to foretell the analyzable structures of proteins, a situation that scientists worldwide person been grappling with since the 1970s.

With the assistance of AlphaFold, researchers tin present foretell the operation of virtually each of the 200 cardinal identified proteins. Since its breakthrough, AlphaFold2 has been utilised by implicit 2 cardinal radical crossed 190 countries.

The knowing of however proteins - life's gathering blocks - relation could perchance pave the mode for the improvement of innovative drugs to dainty diseases specified arsenic cancer, dementia, and adjacent Covid-19. Sir Demis expressed his immense honour astatine receiving the Nobel Prize, stating: "I’ve dedicated my full beingness to advancing AI, due to the fact that I truly judge successful the imaginable it has to amended the lives of billions of people."

He further added: "When we look backmost connected AlphaFold, it volition beryllium the archetypal impervious constituent of AI’s unthinkable imaginable to accelerate technological discovery." He sees AI arsenic "the eventual instrumentality for accelerating subject and technological knowledge."

Sir Demis was calved successful London successful 1976. A kid chess prodigy, helium designed and programmed a multimillion-selling crippled called Theme Park successful his teens earlier attending Cambridge University. Sir Demis said playing chess from a young property led him to go "very interested" successful artificial intelligence.

He said: "I would really promote kids to play games, but not conscionable to play them – the astir important happening is to effort and marque them. That is 1 of the champion ways into programming and engineering."

He received his PhD from University College London, with the diary Science listing his probe connected imaginativeness and representation arsenic 1 of 2007's apical 10 breakthroughs. Sir Demis co-founded DeepMind successful London successful 2010, which helium sold to Google successful 2014. In 2017, helium featured successful the Time 100 database of astir influential people, and earlier this year, helium was knighted for his services to AI. Sir Demis said helium was having a "normal morning" erstwhile helium received the telephone astir the prize.

He said that successful a "funny concatenation of events" his woman archetypal received the telephone from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, earlier they were capable to scope him "only a fewer minutes earlier they announced it". The winners stock a prize money worthy 11 cardinal Swedish kronor (£810,000).