MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) was dominated by traditional logical approaches to AI (Chomsky, Patrick Winston) that were skeptical of learning-based systems, and Hassabis did his postdoc in the neuroscience building instead because he 'would not be welcome' in the AI building.
factualpending
Speaker
Demis HassabisEvidence Quote
“I spent it with Tomaso Podio in the neuroscience building partly because I knew I would not be welcome in the AI building...it was really the bastion of traditional sort of logical approaches to AI...with Chsky and...Patrick Winston...And there were a lot of people...objecting...to the the idea of learning systems and general systems [52:02]”
Source
Sir Demis Hassabis on The Future of Knowledge | Institute for Advanced Study— Institute for Advanced StudyCreated: 8/11/2026, 6:28:03 AM
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