Claims

Factual · Their own work or organisation

“When we launched DeepMind back in 2010, many people thought general AI was a farfetched science fiction technology that was decades away from being a reality.”

Demis Hassabis, DeepMind CEO, in memo to staff · 20 April 2023 · Announcing Google DeepMind (Google DeepMind)

When DeepMind launched in 2010, many people thought general AI was farfetched science fiction decades away.

Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.

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

Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.

What would count as true or false

True: DeepMind was founded in 2010, and contemporary sources (expert surveys, press, accounts by the founders and investors) show that general AI was widely regarded at the time as far-fetched or decades away. Mostly true: the general point holds but a detail is slightly off, e.g. the founding year was 2010 but operations or public profile began later. Mixed: views at the time were evenly split. Mostly false: the attitude was not widespread, or the founding year is materially wrong. False: evidence shows the prevailing view in 2010 was that general AI was near.

Evidence

1. The Genius Behind DeepMind's AI Revolution Rediff.com · 31 October 2026

   “When he founded DeepMind, many observers were puzzled by the company and its unusual focus.”

2. Demis Hassabis Thinks We’re in the ‘Foothills of the Singularity’ Stanford Graduate School of Business · 18 June 2026 Own record

   “And people were quite confused. But we really meant it.”

3. Demis Hassabis Thinks We’re in the ‘Foothills of the Singularity’ Stanford Graduate School of Business · 18 June 2026 Own record

   “When Demis Hassabis pitched DeepMind to a few venture capitalists back in 2010, the business plan was almost comically audacious.”

4. From unlikely start-up to major scientific organisation: Entering our tenth year at DeepMind Google DeepMind · 5 December 2019 Own record

   “We’re no longer the tiny start-up working in a very unfashionable area, as was the case in 2010.”

5. Demis Hassabis Thinks We’re in the ‘Foothills of the Singularity’ Stanford Graduate School of Business · 18 June 2026 Own record

   “When we started DeepMind in 2010, can you imagine we used to try to go to VCs in the UK, which there weren’t very many. And with that as the business plan, it was literally step one, solve intelligence, step two, use it to solve everything else. And people were quite confused.”

6. Demis Hassabis Thinks We’re in the ‘Foothills of the Singularity’ Stanford Graduate School of Business · 18 June 2026 Own record

   “But we really meant it. And actually we may could go back to exactly using that mission statement because by solve intelligence, we meant build AGI.”

7. Future Progress in Artificial Intelligence: A Survey of Expert Opinion Springer Nature Link (Müller & Bostrom, in Fundamental Issues of Artificial Intelligence) · 8 June 2016

   “We thus designed a brief questionnaire and distributed it to four groups of experts in 2012/2013. The median estimate of respondents was for a one in two chance that high-level machine intelligence will be developed around 2040–2050, rising to a nine in ten chance by 2075.”

8. Future Progress in Artificial Intelligence: A Survey of Expert Opinion Springer Nature Link (Müller & Bostrom, in Fundamental Issues of Artificial Intelligence) · 8 June 2016

   “There is, in some quarters, concern about high–level machine intelligence and superintelligent AI coming up in a few decades, bringing with it significant risks for humanity. In other quarters, these issues are ignored or considered science fiction.”

9. DeepMind enters the register · AI Evolution Atlas AI Evolution Atlas · 13 October 2026

   “On 23 September 2010 the UK companies register incorporated company 07386350 as Friars 2022 Limited, with M&R Secretarial Services as secretary and a Cambridge address.”

10. Google Buys Unproven AI Company, Deep Mind I Programmer · 27 January 2014

    “DeepMind was founded in London in 2010 by Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman.”

Reasoning

Independent sources confirm that DeepMind was founded in 2010 (E10) and that the company was incorporated on 23 September 2010 (E9). An expert survey run in 2012/2013 gave a median estimate of a 50% chance of high-level machine intelligence by 2040–2050 (E7), which puts it decades away. The same source says that in some quarters these issues were ignored or treated as science fiction (E8). Retrospective accounts of puzzled observers and an 'unfashionable area' (E1, E4) fit this picture, but the survey dates from two to three years after the founding and the evidence does not directly measure 2010 opinion, so the verdict is mostly true rather than fully true.

Cite this claim

Demis Hassabis, “When DeepMind launched in 2010, many people thought general AI was farfetched science fiction decades away.” (said 20 April 2023). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_cb5f302c6a26, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_cb5f302c6a26