If you want to understand Demis Hassabis, and his quest to apply artificial intelligence to the greatest scientific mysteries, you first have to understand chess. Or more precisely, the trials and tribulations of travelling to church halls in Nuneaton and Coventry and other English towns and cities to play in junior competitions, full of adrenaline, drama and intrigue. This was the life of Hassabis until the age of 12, years he describes as being “forged by fire”. It was directly after this time that he conceived his ambition to create DeepMind.
DeepMind is the start-up that Hassabis, 44, founded with Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman in 2010. Over the past decade, the company has created algorithms that have beaten the world’s best players at the
