According to a leading Google scientist and 2024 Nobel laureate, the most crucial ability for the next generation will be “learning how to learn” in order to adapt to the ways that artificial intelligence is changing the workplace and education.
Speaking at an old Roman theater at the base of the Acropolis in Athens, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google’s DeepMind, stated that a new method of learning and skill development is necessary due to the speed at which technology is evolving.
In normal circumstances, it is quite difficult to forecast the future, such as ten years from today. Hassabis informed the audience that it’s much more difficult now since AI is evolving so quickly, even on a weekly basis. You can only be assured that a significant shift is on the horizon.
Artificial general intelligence, a futuristic concept of machines that are as generally intelligent as humans or at least capable of doing many tasks as well as humans, might be developed within ten years, according to the neuroscientist and former chess prodigy. Despite known concerns, he claimed that this would lead to significant advancements and a potential future of “radical abundance.”
Together with more conventional topics like science, mathematics, and the humanities, Hassabis highlighted the need of “meta-skills,” such as knowing how to learn and how to approach new subjects as best one can.
He stated that one thing we will be certain of is that you will need to keep learning throughout your career.
The co-founder of DeepMind, who founded the London-based research lab in 2010 before Google bought it four years later, shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can precisely predict protein folding, which is a significant advancement for drug development and medicine.
After talking about how to increase the use of AI in government services, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis joined Hassabis at the event in Athens. Mitsotakis cautioned that the expansion of massive tech companies might lead to significant financial inequality on a worldwide scale.
He stated, “People will become very skeptical of this (AI) revolution unless they truly see benefits, personal benefits.” “There will be a great deal of social unrest if they witness… obscene wealth being created within very few companies.”
Mitsotakis expressed gratitude to Hassabis, whose father is Greek Cypriot, for moving the presentation so that it wouldn’t clash with Greece’s and Turkey’s semifinal matchup in the European basketball tournament. Later, Greece lost the game 94-68.
