Founder of DeepMind AI was an Amiga guy?

[eXeler0]

Saw this video about Deep Mind.
[ Show youtube player ]
Never really thought about the connection before, but it turns out the founder Demis Hassabis had an Amiga as a kid (started with a zx pectrum though) and programmed chess programs. Also, he worked at Bullfrog where he did some level design work on Syndicate as well as work on Theme Park.

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demis_Hassabis

[TCD]

In the Theme Park manual he is listed as 'Creator and PC Programming' alongside Molyneux: https://hol.abime.net/1372/manual

Can give a time stamp where they talk about his Amiga?

[CodyJarrett]

Demis entered the "Win a Job at Bullfrog" competition with Chess Invaders and this led to working at Bullfrog, although Mike Diskett won overall with Mr Wobbly Leg Versus The Invaders From Space.

See Amiga Power issue 16, page 65 onwards.

[gimbal]

Kim Justice spills the beans on Bullfrog in "the rise and fall of Peter Molineux". Indeed Demis Hassabis passes by as the lead programmer of Theme Park. I guess that kind of explains why it is a hardcore financial sim as much as a theme park builder if a person who develops chess games as a hobby creates it

[ Show youtube player ]

(first mention around 15:30 and then again at 24:30)

[dlfrsilver]

Demis Hassabis worked with Richard Joseph too, on Evil Genius i guess.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by TCD

In the Theme Park manual he is listed as 'Creator and PC Programming' alongside Molyneux: https://hol.abime.net/1372/manual

Can give a time stamp where they talk about his Amiga?

First brief mention at 06:48 and onwards

[TCD]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

First brief mention at 06:48 and onwards

Thank you. Interesting person.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by TCD

Thank you. Interesting person.

Indeed he is,
here's a 2h Lex Fridman podcast / interview with Demis.
[ Show youtube player ]

[Djay]

The guy at the forefront of A.I. cut his teeth on AMOS PRO

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by Djay

The guy at the forefront of A.I. cut his teeth on AMOS PRO

Quite a leap. Kind of gives some form of truth to parents telling their kids that they can be anything

... if you don't rot your brains and work hard for it. The unspoken bit of that statement.

[Megalomaniac]

Always cool to see this, I'm rpetty sure the BBC website ran a feature about him which mentioned his Amiga roots. Always nice, as our machine seems very forgotten by the mainstream, everyone seems to assume that we went straight from 8-bit computers to consoles and PCs, like the Americans mostly did.

[Djay]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Quite a leap. Kind of gives some form of truth to parents telling their kids that they can be anything

... if you don't rot your brains and work hard for it. The unspoken bit of that statement.

in the video he says he used AMOS PRO alot

okay, okay... it was the spectrum really

i remember this guy from back in the day and reading about him getting a job at bullfrog, i watched AlphaGo and realised it was him