Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis: ‘Learning How to Learn’ will be future’s most vital skill
Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind CEO and 2024 Nobel laureate, said the next generation's most important skill will be "learning how to learn" as AI accelerates change. He predicted artificial general intelligence could emerge within a decade, bringing both abundance and risks.
Google DeepMind CEO and Nobel laureate Demis Hassabis has claimed that the most important skill of the next generation will be learning how to learn as artificial intelligence transforms education and the workforce. Addressing the assembly at the base of the Acropolis, Hassabis cautioned that AI is changing at an unprecedented rate, at which time individuals will have to keep adapting. He speculated that artificial general intelligence (AGI) might happen over the next ten years, where it would be a source of opportunity as well as danger.
Hassabis, a neuroscientist and former chess prodigy, emphasised the fact that future professions will require lifelong learning. He added that conventional subjects such as maths, science and humanities are still relevant but should be accompanied with what he calls meta-skills, including adaptability and effective learning strategies. The chief of DeepMind was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry due to coming up with AI models that subsequently predict the ways proteins will fold, which has been a significant advance in medicine.
Case for Meta-Skills
Hassabis mentioned that it is almost impossible to predict the job market a decade further, as technological changes are rapidly observed. Rather, he claimed, people need to pay attention to developing the capacity to absorb and utilise new knowledge over the course of their lives. He explained this as a key to success in a world that is in constant change.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis joined the event, emphasised the potential of the use of AI in government services but also predicted further financial inequality. He warned that concentrating AI wealth in a small number of companies would create scepticism among the population, not to mention social unrest. Mitsotakis was grateful to Hassabis, whose father is Greek Cypriot, for modifying the timing of the event so as not to conflict with a basketball semifinal.