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Video taking off 16x its usual first day

Demis Hassabis says DeepMind's $650 million sale was about computing power

In WSJ. Style's The Job Interview, the Nobel laureate also returns to the chessboard, the MIT doubters and the theme-park game he built before AI.

Channel: WSJ. Style Story of Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 64,435 views a day, 16 times a normal first day on this channel (4,065).

Demis Hassabis on Why He Sold DeepMind to Google for $650M | The Job InterviewDemis Hassabis on Why He Sold DeepMind to Google for $650M | The Job Interview

Things we can learn from the video

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  1. 0:35Hassabis learned chess at four and quickly beat his father and uncle.
  2. 0:56Established MIT AI professors doubted his idea of learning systems built on deep and reinforcement learning.
  3. 2:16Founding DeepMind in 2010, when few believed AI would work, was his most consequential decision.
  4. 2:57Why he sold DeepMind to Google in 2014 for about $650 million: the huge need for computing power.
  5. 5:03On AI risks, he calls for standards bodies, secure testing and guardrails for frontier systems.
  6. 7:29Making the video game Theme Park, then the surreal call from Sweden about his Nobel Prize.

DeepMind needed computing power. That, Demis Hassabis explains, was what pushed him to sell the company to Google in 2014 for around $650 million, rather than keep building it alone. And the money itself? He says he never did any of this to maximize his wealth.

The sale is the headline question in his episode of The Job Interview, the WSJ. Magazine series that walks famous people through their careers like a résumé on the desk. It got off to a fast start: close to 50,000 views in its first 14 hours, more than ten times what the channel's videos usually gather in a whole day. It arrives two days after Rosalía's episode in the same series.

Hassabis opens with a confession: "The thing about being in my head is that there's never an off-switch, so it's quite tiring as well." From there the interview moves through a life of hard problems. He learned chess at four and soon beat his father and uncle. Later, established AI professors at MIT doubted his plan to build systems that learn through deep learning and reinforcement learning.

His most consequential decision, he says, was founding DeepMind in 2010, "where pretty much nobody thought AI would work." Asked about his fears, he answers with specifics: standards bodies, secure testing and guardrails for the most powerful systems, so that AGI can be brought into the world safely.

There is a playful detour, too. Hassabis recalls developing Theme Park, the 1994 Bullfrog game he co-designed as a teenager, and the emergent simulations that made its crowds of visitors feel alive. AI and simulations, he says, have been his two passions from the beginning.

In the comments, the price is the running topic: some joke that $650 million is reason enough, others argue DeepMind was worth far more. The interview ends with footage of Hassabis as a young chess player. His advice to that boy: "believe even more in the strange ideas that kid had."

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What viewers say

  • Great questions! You can tell when someone prepared and is actively listening instead of thinking about the next question. Great format too.
    @libiroliSee it on YouTube
  • I could hear him talk all day - what a great guy
    @danielcoruizSee it on YouTube
  • I can think of 650M reasons
    @weum.See it on YouTube
4 more comments

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The facts
Channel
WSJ. Style
Subscribers
149,000
Channel views, last 7 days
374,951
Channel views, pace per day
84,813 (on a normal day: 53,160)
Video published
October 21, 2026
Video views so far
48,210 (less than a day online)
Video views, pace per day
64,435

The numbers

A long interview on a channel better known for luxury homes and coveted objects, and its first hours ran far ahead of the usual pace.

the video's first day
usual first day here
4,065
this video
64,435
subscribers
149,000
no significant change in the last 7 days
total views
70,121,390
views per day
84,813
typical day: 53,160
the video
views
48,210
likes
545
comments
22
days online
1
subscribers: this channel and similar channels
Bliss Foster
450,000
Alex
257,000
Desi Rich
255,000
Threaducation
254,000
understitch,
155,000
WSJ. Style
149,000
As of October 22, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube
Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.
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💡 Test your knowledge

Which British studio released the 1994 game Theme Park, which Hassabis co-designed?