Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis envisions AI eradicating disease within a decade

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, has shared a bold and optimistic vision for the future of healthcare, stating that artificial intelligence (AI) could potentially help cure all diseases within the next 10 years. Speaking in an interview with CBS News’ Scott Pelley, Hassabis highlighted how AI could dramatically accelerate drug discovery.

“It currently takes a decade and billions of dollars to develop a single drug,” Hassabis explained. “With AI, we could cut that down from years to mere months — or even weeks. It sounds unbelievable today, but people once thought the same about predicting protein structures.”

Hassabis, alongside Google DeepMind Director Dr. John Jumper, was recently awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work on AlphaFold — an AI system that revolutionized the prediction of protein structures, a key milestone in drug development.

A viral Instagram clip shared by artificialintelligencenews.in captured Hassabis’ inspiring outlook, where he said, “I truly believe AI can help cure all disease, possibly within the next decade. I see no reason why not.”

The tech world has taken note too. Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas reacted to Hassabis’ statement on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “Demis is a genius — he deserves every resource in the world to make this happen.”

Adding to his growing list of achievements, Hassabis was recently named in the 2025 TIME100 list for his pioneering work in AI research, especially in deep reinforcement learning and protein structure prediction. He also appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. Grateful for the honor, Hassabis posted on X, “Honoured to be on the #TIME100 list and cover — and congratulations to all the others featured. Huge thanks to the brilliant Jennifer Doudna for the wonderful write-up.