Demis Hassabis
Encyclopedia
Demis Hassabis is a computer game designer, AI
programmer
, neuroscientist
and world-class games player. A child prodigy
in chess
, he reached master standard at the age of 13 with an Elo rating of 2300. After finishing his A-Level exams two years early he began his computer games career at Bullfrog Productions
, first level designing on Syndicate
and then at 17 co-designing and lead programming on the classic game Theme Park
, with the games designer Peter Molyneux
, which went on to sell several million copies and win a Golden Joystick Award
. Hassabis then left Bullfrog to take up his place at Queens' College, University of Cambridge
where he graduated from the Computer Science Tripos
in 1997 with a Double First.
Following his graduation Hassabis worked briefly as a Lead AI programmer on the ground-breaking Lionhead Studios
title Black & White before founding Elixir Studios
in 1998, a London-based independent games developer. He grew the company to 60 people, signing publishing deals with Vivendi Universal and Microsoft
, and was the executive designer of the BAFTA-nominated Republic: The Revolution
and Evil Genius
games.
The release of Elixir's pioneering first game, Republic: The Revolution
, was delayed several times due to its ambitious scope. The final game was reduced from its original vision and greeted with lukewarm reviews, receiving a Metacritic
score of 62/100. Evil Genius
fared much better with a score of 77/100, but in April 2005 the intellectual property and technology rights were sold to various publishers and the studio was closed.
Hassabis then left the games industry, switching to cognitive neuroscience
, citing a desire to get back to his lifelong passion of developing artificial intelligence
technology. Working in the field of autobiographical memory
and amnesia
he has authored several highly-cited and influential papers, including his most prominent work to date, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
in early 2007. It demonstrated that patients with damage to their hippocampus
, known to cause amnesia
, were also unable to imagine themselves in new experiences. Importantly this established a link between the constructive process of imagination
and the reconstructive process of episodic memory
recall. Based on these findings and a follow-up fMRI study, Hassabis developed his ideas into a new theoretical account of the episodic memory system identifying scene construction, the generation and online maintenance of a complex and coherent scene, as a key process underlying both memory recall and imagination. This work was covered in the mainstream media and was listed in the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of the year (at number 9) by the journal Science
.
Recently some of Hassabis' findings and interpretations have been challenged by other researchers: A paper by Larry R. Squire and colleagues reported a dissociation between hippocampal lesions and imagination deficits as well as between amnesia and imagination deficits. Furthermore, Squire and colleagues questioned whether the lesions of the patients tested by Hassabis and colleagues were restricted to the hippocampus. The debate is ongoing.
Hassabis received his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from UCL
in 2009 and is continuing his computational neuroscience research as a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the Gatsby Unit, UCL and in collaboration with groups at MIT and Harvard.
Hassabis won the world games championship at the Mind Sports Olympiad a record five times, prior to his retirement from competitive play in 2002, and is an expert player of many board games including chess, diplomacy
, shogi
and poker
. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
(FRSA) in 2009.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
, neuroscientist
Neuroscientist
A neuroscientist is an individual who studies the scientific field of neuroscience or any of its related sub-fields...
and world-class games player. A child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
in chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, he reached master standard at the age of 13 with an Elo rating of 2300. After finishing his A-Level exams two years early he began his computer games career at Bullfrog Productions
Bullfrog Productions
Bullfrog Productions was a UK computer game developer that was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux. The company achieved recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous....
, first level designing on Syndicate
Syndicate (computer game)
Syndicate is an isometric real-time tactical game from Bullfrog Productions created in . It is the first title in the Syndicate series. An expansion pack, Syndicate: American Revolt, and a sequel, Syndicate Wars, have also been released...
and then at 17 co-designing and lead programming on the classic game Theme Park
Theme Park (computer game)
Theme Park is a construction and management simulation game designed by Bullfrog Productions and originally released in 1994, in which the player designs and operates an amusement park....
, with the games designer Peter Molyneux
Peter Molyneux
Peter Douglas Molyneux OBE is an English computer game designer and game programmer. He created the God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and Black & White, among others, as well as business simulation games such as Theme Park and more recently, the RPG series Fable.Despite the success of his games,...
, which went on to sell several million copies and win a Golden Joystick Award
Golden Joystick Awards
The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards are the world's oldest gaming award ceremony, awarding the best computer and video games of the year, as voted for by the general public...
. Hassabis then left Bullfrog to take up his place at Queens' College, University of Cambridge
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...
where he graduated from the Computer Science Tripos
Computer Science Tripos
The Computer Science Tripos is the undergraduate course in computer science offered by the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. It evolved out of the Diploma in Computer Science, the world’s first taught course in computer science, which started in 1953...
in 1997 with a Double First.
Following his graduation Hassabis worked briefly as a Lead AI programmer on the ground-breaking Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a...
title Black & White before founding Elixir Studios
Elixir Studios
Elixir Studios was a British video game developer. The company was founded in 1998 by Demis Hassabis, formerly a prominent figure at Lionhead Studios. At its height, it employed around sixty people, and was based in London. It aimed to be an independent developer, creating its own intellectual...
in 1998, a London-based independent games developer. He grew the company to 60 people, signing publishing deals with Vivendi Universal and Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, and was the executive designer of the BAFTA-nominated Republic: The Revolution
Republic: The Revolution
Republic: The Revolution is a computer game produced by Elixir Studios, founded by Demis Hassabis, a former programmer of Lionhead Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. It is a depiction of grassroots political action, where one attempts to put their preferred government in power. It is set...
and Evil Genius
Evil Genius (game)
Evil Genius is a single player real-time strategy and simulation video game developed by Elixir Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment, released on 28 September 2004. The game is inspired by the spy thriller genre...
games.
The release of Elixir's pioneering first game, Republic: The Revolution
Republic: The Revolution
Republic: The Revolution is a computer game produced by Elixir Studios, founded by Demis Hassabis, a former programmer of Lionhead Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. It is a depiction of grassroots political action, where one attempts to put their preferred government in power. It is set...
, was delayed several times due to its ambitious scope. The final game was reduced from its original vision and greeted with lukewarm reviews, receiving a Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
score of 62/100. Evil Genius
Evil Genius (game)
Evil Genius is a single player real-time strategy and simulation video game developed by Elixir Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment, released on 28 September 2004. The game is inspired by the spy thriller genre...
fared much better with a score of 77/100, but in April 2005 the intellectual property and technology rights were sold to various publishers and the studio was closed.
Hassabis then left the games industry, switching to cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological substrates underlying cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes. It addresses the questions of how psychological/cognitive functions are produced by the brain...
, citing a desire to get back to his lifelong passion of developing artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
technology. Working in the field of autobiographical memory
Autobiographical memory
Autobiographical memory is a memory system consisting of episodes recollected from an individual's life, based on a combination of episodic and semantic memory.-Formation:Conway and Pleydell-Pearce proposed that autobiographical...
and amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
he has authored several highly-cited and influential papers, including his most prominent work to date, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, usually referred to as PNAS, is the official journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences...
in early 2007. It demonstrated that patients with damage to their hippocampus
Hippocampus
The hippocampus is a major component of the brains of humans and other vertebrates. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in...
, known to cause amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, were also unable to imagine themselves in new experiences. Importantly this established a link between the constructive process of imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
and the reconstructive process of episodic memory
Episodic memory
Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events that can be explicitly stated. Semantic and episodic memory together make up the category of declarative memory, which is one of the two major divisions in memory...
recall. Based on these findings and a follow-up fMRI study, Hassabis developed his ideas into a new theoretical account of the episodic memory system identifying scene construction, the generation and online maintenance of a complex and coherent scene, as a key process underlying both memory recall and imagination. This work was covered in the mainstream media and was listed in the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of the year (at number 9) by the journal Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
.
Recently some of Hassabis' findings and interpretations have been challenged by other researchers: A paper by Larry R. Squire and colleagues reported a dissociation between hippocampal lesions and imagination deficits as well as between amnesia and imagination deficits. Furthermore, Squire and colleagues questioned whether the lesions of the patients tested by Hassabis and colleagues were restricted to the hippocampus. The debate is ongoing.
Hassabis received his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from UCL
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
in 2009 and is continuing his computational neuroscience research as a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the Gatsby Unit, UCL and in collaboration with groups at MIT and Harvard.
Hassabis won the world games championship at the Mind Sports Olympiad a record five times, prior to his retirement from competitive play in 2002, and is an expert player of many board games including chess, diplomacy
Diplomacy (game)
Diplomacy is a strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in 1959. Its main distinctions from most board wargames are its negotiation phases and the absence of dice or other game elements that produce random effects...
, shogi
Shogi
, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...
and poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
(FRSA) in 2009.