ClaimsDemis Hassabis

“It was a huge pleasure and honour to give the Kendrew lecture (talk now posted online) and visit the hallowed halls of the @MRC_LMB.”

Demis Hassabis, on X 28 October 2021 Post by @demishassabis on X, 2021-10-28 (X)

Factual Their own work or organisation

Demis Hassabis gave the Kendrew lecture and visited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and the talk has been posted online.

Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

The second judge would not resolve this claim; the verdict shown is the first judge's.

What would count as true or false

The claim has three parts: (a) Hassabis gave the Kendrew lecture; (b) he visited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology; (c) a recording of the talk had been posted online by about 2021-10-28. TRUE: MRC LMB records, its events listing or a video page show that Hassabis delivered the Kendrew lecture at or for the LMB in 2021, and that a recording was publicly online by around that date. MOSTLY TRUE: he gave the lecture and it was posted online, but a minor detail differs, for example the lecture was delivered remotely or hybrid rather than during an in-person visit, or the recording went up a few days after the claim. MIXED: he gave the Kendrew lecture, but no recording was public near that time. MOSTLY FALSE: he gave a different LMB talk that was not the Kendrew lecture. FALSE: he did not give the Kendrew lecture.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (4)

  1. E1 John Kendrew Lecture to be given jointly by Demis Hassabis and John Jumper from DeepMind | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology · 5 October 2021

    “The 2021 John Kendrew Lecture will be given on 13th October at 2:30pm (BST) and 4:00pm (BST) by DeepMind’s Founder and CEO Demis Hassabis and research scientist John Jumper”
  2. E2 John Kendrew Lecture to be given jointly by Demis Hassabis and John Jumper from DeepMind | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology · 5 October 2021

    “Due to ongoing social distancing measures within the LMB, the talk will be hosted virtually and is open to anyone interested in attending.”
  3. E3 John Kendrew Lecture to be given jointly by Demis Hassabis and John Jumper from DeepMind | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology · 5 October 2021

    “After the event, both talks will be available on the LMB’s YouTube page (Part 1 by Demis Hassabis and Part 2 by John Jumper).”
  4. E4 talks.cam : LMB Kendrew Lecture (part 2): Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold University of Cambridge (Talks.cam) · 13 October 2021

    “YouTube link to watch the talk: https://youtu.be/6hlgADbBvZs.”

Reasoning

The LMB announced that Hassabis would give the 2021 John Kendrew Lecture on 13 October 2021, jointly with John Jumper (E1). The LMB also said the lecture would be hosted virtually, so the evidence does not support an in-person visit to the LMB (E2). The LMB planned to post both parts on its YouTube page (E3), and a Cambridge talks page gives a YouTube link for Part 2 (E4). The criteria treat remote delivery as a minor difference, and Hassabis's own Part 1 upload is not directly confirmed.

Cite this claim

Demis Hassabis, “Demis Hassabis gave the Kendrew lecture and visited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and the talk has been posted online.” (said 28 October 2021). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_d73b0531d1ed, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_d73b0531d1ed

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Demis Hassabis, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More factual claims by Demis Hassabis

  1. Mostly true Factual 27 May 2026
    “What I can say is that we’re in pre-clinical with a bunch of our programs, and it’s going very well,”

    Isomorphic Labs has a number of its drug programs in the pre-clinical stage.

  2. Resolved true Factual 9 May 2026
    “Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since AlphaGo!”

    It has been 10 years since AlphaGo.

  3. Resolved true Factual 29 April 2026
    “It was a huge honour to meet with President @Jaemyung_Lee in Seoul.”

    Demis Hassabis met South Korean President Lee Jae-myung in Seoul.

  4. Mixed Factual 10 April 2026
    “I got into AI in the first place because I was interested in all the big questions in the world, the nature of reality, nature of consciousness, these kinds of things.”

    Hassabis got into AI originally because he was interested in big questions such as the nature of reality and consciousness.

  5. Mostly true Factual 10 April 2026
    “I think that’s why I decided from a very young age to do AI”

    Demis Hassabis decided from a very young age to work on AI because he was obsessed with big questions as a schoolchild.

All of them

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