The man behind Google’s AI thinks the world needs a referee. And he has drafted the rules. Demis Hassabis wants a US-led watchdog that vets frontier models before release. It is modelled on Wall Street’s policeman, and it could slow the whole industry down.
Demis Hassabis does not usually sound the alarm. On Tuesday he did.
The Google DeepMind chief and Nobel laureate published a manifesto on X. In it, he argues that artificial general intelligence is “probably only a few short years away”. The world, he says, is not ready. He calls this a “precious window” before AGI arrives, and it is closing.
His fix is unusually concrete. He wants the US to build a new AI Standards Body. His template is FINRA, the industry-funded watchdog that polices Wall Street under government oversight.
A referee for the frontier
