What if the world goes totally disease-free in the next 10 years? This is exactly what Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, is talking about.
In a recent interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Hassabis shared a bold idea — artificial intelligence could help us wipe out all diseases within the next 10 years.
This might sound dreamy, but Hassabis is not joking. His work has already deeply influenced how scientists look at biology. With the help of DeepMind’s AI, his team decoded over 200 million protein structures — the building blocks of life. Before this, researchers had figured out only about 1% of these. And it took them decades to get there.
Now, thanks to AI, drug discovery might just take some weeks or days rather than decades. “Developing one drug takes billions and about a decade,” Hassabis said. “We could cut that down massively with the right technology.”
His confidence comes from the results. He and his colleague John Jumper even won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry because of their tremendous work. And it doesn’t end on cures. Hassabis also believes that in upcoming years, AI could start asking its own scientific questions — spotting problems even before we do, with surprising accuracy and speed.
Of course, he’s also cautious. He says AI must be handled with caution. It could be risky if misused or poorly controlled. That’s why he’s working not just in labs, but also with governments to advise on AI development that’s safe and ethical.
So, is the future of medicine about to change forever? According to Hassabis, it’s already happening. AI is diagnosing diseases, helping doctors make quick decisions, and even supporting pandemic response. And this might be just the beginning of a world where illness is no longer a life sentence, but a thing of the past.
