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Google DeepMind Chief Demis Hassabis Works a Late ‘Second Day,’ Sleeps About Six Hours

He describes a decade-long two-shift routine, cautioning that under six hours of sleep harms the brain.

Overview

  • In a Fortune interview released Feb. 12, Demis Hassabis said he splits his waking hours into two workdays and sleeps about six hours.
  • He packs daytime with back-to-back meetings, spends the evening with family, then works from about 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. on creative research, peaking around 1 a.m.
  • He warned that sleeping less than six hours can harm the brain and contribute to chronic sleep deprivation.
  • He said he has kept this schedule for about a decade, describing it as the way he gets deep thinking done.
  • The CEO’s comments come as he leads Google DeepMind—formed from DeepMind’s 2010 founding, Google’s 2014 acquisition, and the 2023 Google Brain merger—and follows his 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with John Jumper.