DeepMind's CEO says using AI can make you a genius — or hurt your critical thinking skills

The Google DeepMind CEO said that AI is just like the internet when it comes to learning. LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images 2026-02-20T05:01:01.271Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Demis Hassabis said that AI can sharpen or dull critical thinking skills.

The Google DeepMind CEO said that AI is like the internet, with the potential to enhance learning. Other tech leaders have also cautioned that AI may lead to dependency and laziness. It's up to you whether AI makes you sharper or slowly dulls your brain, says Demis Hassabis. In a Thursday interview with entrepreneur Varun Mayya on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit, the Google DeepMind CEO said that AI is just like the internet. People can use it to learn all kinds of topics, or use it in ways that "degrade" their thinking."With AI, if you use it in a lazy way, it will make you worse at critical thinking and so on," he said. "But that's down to you as the individual. No one can help you do that." He added that people need to be smart and use these technologies in ways that enhance their thinking rather than dull it.Hassabis cofounded DeepMind in 2010, which Google acquired in 2014. It merged with Google Brain in 2023 to form Google DeepMind, the lab behind tools such as Gemini and Nano Banana. The CEO and a DeepMind coworker, John Jumper, were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their work on protein structure prediction. Every time Shubhangi publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Shubhangi and get more of their work as it publishes. Sign up By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. As AI gets incorporated into daily life, debates about its risks and rewards have intensified, with several tech leaders warning about the dangers of an overreliance on AI tools.Earlier this week, tech billionaire Mark Cuban said that there are two types of people who use AI. "There are generally 2 types of LLM users, those that use it to learn everything, and those that use it so they don't have to learn anything," Cuban said of large language models in an X post on Tuesday.Cuban has previously said that AI models can't provide all the answers and are "stupid" but like "a savant that remembers everything." At a June conference, the CEO of French AI lab Mistral said that a risk of using AI for everything is that humans will stop trying."The biggest risk with AI is not that it will outsmart us or become uncontrollable, but that it will make us too comfortable, too dependent, and ultimately too lazy to think or act for ourselves," Arthur Mensch said.