Google's top AI scientist reveals the most important skill people need, and it's not coding

Google's top AI scientist has shared the most important skills people will need in the future to stay employable. Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google's DeepMind and 2024 Nobel laureate, said that the most important skill for the next generation will be "learning how to learn". Speaking at an ancient Roman theatre near the Acropolis, Hassabis said the fast pace of AI makes predicting the future extremely difficult. "It's very hard to predict the future, like 10 years from now, in normal cases. It's even harder today, given how fast AI is changing, even week by week," he said. "The only thing you can say for certain is that huge change is coming."

Hassabis, a neuroscientist and former chess prodigy, said artificial general intelligence—machines capable of performing many tasks at human level—could arrive within a decade. He said this may bring major advances and a future of "radical abundance," though risks remain.

He highlighted the need for "meta-skills," including learning how to learn and improving one’s approach to new subjects, alongside traditional disciplines like math, science, and humanities. "One thing we'll know for sure is you're going to have to continually learn ... throughout your career," Hassabis said.


Hassabis co-founded DeepMind in London in 2010, which Google acquired in 2014. He shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing AI systems that accurately predict protein folding, a breakthrough in medicine and drug discovery.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the event after discussing AI use in government services. Mitsotakis warned that the growth of large tech companies could increase global financial inequality. "Unless people actually see benefits, personal benefits, to this (AI) revolution, they will tend to become very sceptical," he said. "And if they see ... obscene wealth being created within very few companies, this is a recipe for significant social unrest."

(Source:AP)