‘Silicon Valley came after my people’: Google AI CEO on why DeepMind sold to Google

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has explained why he sold DeepMind to Google in 2014. Competing with Big Tech needed $7 billion, he says, while he could barely raise $10 million rounds. The Atari breakthrough put DeepMind on Silicon Valley’s radar, and rivals began offering his researchers $10 million a year. With no product and no revenue, Hassabis took Larry Page’s roughly $650 million offer.