Google’s Nobel-winning AI leader sees a ‘renaissance’ ahead—after a 10- or 15-year shakeout

Sir Demis Hassabis, the recently minted Nobel laureate and CEO of Google DeepMind, believes humanity is standing on the precipice of a “new golden era of discovery.” But reaching this utopia will require navigating a turbulent transition period—a decade-long sprint that Hassabis describes as a necessary disruption for the $3.9 trillion tech giant he helps lead.

Speaking to Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell on the Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast, Hassabis offered a vision of the future defined by “radical abundance.” It is a world where artificial intelligence has successfully bottled the scientific method to solve the planet’s most intractable problems.

“In 10, 15 years’ time, we’ll be in a kind of new golden era of discovery that [is] a kind of new renaissance,” Hassabis predicted. In this near future, he predicted that “medicine won’t look like it does today,” with AI enabling personalized treatments and curing major diseases. Beyond health, he said he foresees AI unlocking new materials to solve the energy crisis through fusion or solar breakthroughs, eventually allowing humanity to “travel the stars and … explore the galaxy.”

However...