Google DeepMind CEO is optimistic: the era of General artificial Intelligence is coming

Beijing, May 3 (Xinhua) Google's artificial intelligence subsidiary DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis (Demis Hassabis) said on Tuesday that general artificial intelligence (AGI) may be realized within a few years. AGI refers to a system in which computers have human-level cognitive abilities.

As for the timing of AGI implementation, Hassabis said in an interview on Tuesday that the pace of AI research is likely to accelerate further than it is already very fast. "the progress of the past few years is quite incredible," Mr. Hassabis said. "I don't see any reason to slow it down. I think it might even accelerate. So I think we may only need a few years, maybe in ten years."

He added that researchers have not yet agreed on an appropriate definition of AGI. "I think we will have a very powerful, very general-purpose system in the next few years." Hassabis said. He was appointed DeepMind CEO last month to lead Google's two newly merged AI research divisions. Google said the move would speed up its AI progress.

At present, the development of AGI is a hot issue in the AI research community. While some observers describe it as a science fiction concept, other executives, such as Hassabis and OpenAI CEO Sam Sam Altman, have publicly expressed ambitions to develop the technology while protecting humans from the consequences.

Hassabis also stressed the importance of responsible development of AGI. The development of AI technology will require close coordination among researchers, academia and government, he said. At the same time, he said he believes Google is a responsible participant. "I advocate the use of scientific methods to develop these types of AGI technologies in a cautious manner. You need to try to do very careful controllable experiments to understand the functions of the underlying system." He said.