Here’s What Google’s Demis Hassabis Thinks People Should Study

AI is already taking human jobs, but the CEO of Google DeepMind believes the disruption will lead to the creation of new, “very valuable” roles.

Speaking at SXSW London on Monday, Demis Hassabis said he expects AI to be a bigger transformation than the Industrial Revolution, but he is optimistic because humans are “infinitely adaptable.”

“I think new jobs will appear, new very valuable jobs,” he said, adding that he believes AI over the next five to 10 years will “supercharge sort of technically savvy people who are at the forefront of using these technologies.”

Hassabis said he thinks today’s children will grow up “AI native” in the way the previous generation did with the internet. However, when it comes to choosing what to study, Hassabis said he would still recommend studying STEM subjects.

He said it’s “still important to understand fundamentals” in areas including mathematics, physics, and computer science to understand “how these systems are put together.”

Speaking at Google’s I/O developer conference last week, Hassabis and Google cofounder Sergey Brin predicted AGI — the moment AI reaches or surpasses human intelligence — will arrive around 2030.

But AI is already rapidly transforming the job market. Some companies are dialling down hiring for roles that can be done with AI, and companies such as Meta, Microsoft, and Google are increasingly using the technology to write code.

While Hassabis said he’d still study STEM subjects, he recommended that people get experience using AI tools.

“I’d also be experimenting with all the latest AI systems and tools and seeing what’s the best way of utilising them and making use of them in useful and novel ways, so I would be embracing that and hacking around with those tools,” he said.

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