Demis Hassabis: A Global AI Regulator is Necessary

Demis Hassabis: A Global Regulator for AI is Necessary

Demis Hassabis, during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, expressed the need for a global safeguard for AI capable of intervening if advanced models become too dangerous. In a blog post, the CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind stated that the United States should lead this initiative, arguing that the country is the best place to establish global standards, given its economic and technical position.

The organization, which could resemble existing regulators like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, would consist of leading independent experts and representatives from the open-source communities. It would have the power to evaluate advanced models before their release and coordinate an industry-wide slowdown if they were deemed too risky to deploy.

The article, titled "A Framework for Advanced AI and the Dawn of a New Era," argues that the need for global regulation is becoming increasingly urgent as AI systems grow more sophisticated. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) "is likely just a few years away," he stated. "When we look back on this period in the decades to come, I think we will realize that we were at the foot of the singularity - nothing less than the dawn of a new era for humanity."

According to Axios, Hassabis has spent months quietly building support for his proposal, including informing the Trump administration, other AI labs, and European officials. He hopes that the new organization will be operational before the end of the year. He told Axios that "the feedback I’ve heard [from the Trump administration] is very positive."

This proposal is part of recent efforts by Hassabis and other industry leaders to establish a coherent framework for governing increasingly powerful AI systems, as well as to mitigate the risks they may pose. To date, there are no specific global rules governing AI, nor is there a comprehensive set of rules at the national level in the United States. Hassabis, a co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on AI-based protein prediction, also signed a statement calling for stricter protections against AI-assisted biological weapons production last month.

Hassabis's recent comments follow a statement from leading economists and tech titans — including Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt — urging global leaders to take the imminent economic impacts of AI seriously.