Hassabis: Distance from Silicon Valley enables the deeper thinking required for deep tech
Demis Hassabis · Demis Hassabis: Why AGI is Bigger than the Industrial Revolution & Where Are The Bottlenecks in AI · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Apr 7, 2026 · at 26:58
Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind, reflects on how operating outside Silicon Valley protects long-term deep tech companies from distraction by short-term trends.
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“And then the final thing is maybe being a bit away from the valley. There is some disadvantage in that. You're not plugged into the network and the gossip and the latest trends and vibes and all of these things. We're a little bit out of it here, but it does, I think it's very conducive to thinking deeply about things, being more original about how you think, and I think that's great for things like deep tech, where, you know, you don't want to be distracted by the latest fad. You want to, you know it's going to be a twenty-year mission, which is what we knew at the beginning of DeepMind. So I think being a little bit away from that maelstrom is quite good.”
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