Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, recently shared a vision that’s refreshingly down-to-earth amidst all the grand promises around AI. Speaking at the SXSW festival in London, he revealed that his team is working on a next-generation AI-powered email system designed to lift the heavy burden of managing everyday digital correspondence.
This smart system would act like a digital personal assistant: automatically sorting routine emails, responding in the user’s own tone, and helping prioritize what really needs urgent attention. Hassabis was quite candid, saying he’d pay thousands of dollars monthly just to get rid of the stress caused by email overload.
While he acknowledges AI’s long-term transformative potential, he also cautions against overhyping its short-term impact. He imagines AI not only streamlining tasks but also acting as a personal guardian for one’s attention, helping users avoid getting sucked into endless distractions created by attention-grabbing algorithms. Essentially, a universal AI assistant that “knows you really well” and enriches your life.
On the bigger picture, Hassabis touched on the race for artificial general intelligence (AGI)—AI that can reason and perform across many domains at human level. He had expected academia to lead the way but noted that commercial players jumped in much sooner, speeding up development.
Given the global stakes, he called for US-China collaboration on safety and regulation, hoping scientific and safety standards can be agreed upon “for the good of all humanity.”
He predicts AGI could arrive in five to ten years, comparing it to a new Industrial Revolution. With such potential for radical economic abundance, he urged economists and social scientists to ensure that prosperity is shared fairly across society.
