Google DeepMind’s Lila Ibrahim says AI’s upside outweighs its risks
DeepMind's first Chief AI Readiness Officer is betting that preparing communities and workers matters as much as building smarter models
Most AI executives talk about what their models can do. Lila Ibrahim wants to talk about whether the rest of us are ready for it.
In an interview with CNBC, the Google DeepMind executive said she believes the benefits of artificial intelligence outweigh the risks. She paired that optimism with a less flashy point: communities and workers need to be prepared for AI’s changing role in their lives.
A new job title for a new kind of problem
Ibrahim holds a role that didn’t exist at DeepMind until she stepped into it. She is the lab’s first Chief AI Readiness Officer.
She took on the title after serving as DeepMind’s founding Chief Operating Officer. She joined the lab in April 2018 as its first COO.
Before DeepMind, her résumé ran through Intel, the venture firm Kleiner Perkins, and the online learning platform Coursera.
DeepMind is behind technologies like Gemini and AlphaFold, and the societal questions around tools like these are getting harder to ignore.
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Building AI “with” people, not “to” them
Ibrahim’s pitch centers on collaboration. Her approach calls for involving communities and workers in how AI gets developed, rather than handing them a finished product and wishing them luck.
The philosophy prioritizes public engagement, safety, and equitable access.
TIME named Ibrahim to its inaugural list of the 100 Most Influential People in AI, citing her focus on making sure the technology is developed with communities instead of being imposed on them.
Teachers as an early test case
The most concrete example of this strategy so far comes from education. DeepMind has worked on educational tools, including LearnLM, aimed at helping people in the classroom.
Those tools reportedly save teachers approximately 10 hours per week.
Why the optimism comes with homework
Saying AI’s benefits outweigh its risks is an easy line for any tech executive to deliver. What makes Ibrahim’s version notable is the condition attached to it.
Her argument isn’t that the benefits arrive automatically. It’s that they depend on whether people are prepared.