Demis Hassabis says Google DeepMind had to return to its startup roots after the Brain merger

In short: Demis Hassabis, speaking on the 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings in early April 2026, described how Google DeepMind has accelerated its pace over the past two to three years by merging Google Brain’s compute resources with DeepMind’s research culture and returning to what he called a “startup or entrepreneurial” way of working. He also disclosed that he runs Isomorphic Labs, the group’s pharmaceutical AI spinoff, as a “second workday” beginning around 10pm, ahead of expected human trials in oncology later this year.

Assembling the ingredients

Google DeepMind’s formal merger of DeepMind and Google Brain completed in 2023. Hassabis described the period since as one of deliberate acceleration: aligning talent “from around the company, sort of pushing in one direction,” gaining access to the compute infrastructure that DeepMind had previously lacked at scale, and driving what he called “relentless sort of focus and pace.”…