Deepmind CEO Hassabis says "nobody in the world knows what happens next" so "cautious optimism" means building guardrails now
Nobody in the world knows what happens next. So DeepMind's CEO just proposed a FINRA for AI—with power to coordinate a slowdown.
Why it matters
Hassabis is making a high-profile public case for industry self-regulation through a new US standards body that could coordinate frontier model evaluations and development pacing. This signals how major AI labs are positioning governance strategy as competitive advantage and risk mitigation.
The key facts
7 to knowDemis Hassabis (Google DeepMind CEO) published AI governance proposal
Proposes new US standards body modeled after FINRA (financial regulator)
Would develop evaluation protocols for frontier models
Could coordinate slowdown in AI development if needed
Startups and research models would be exempt from requirements
Framed as 'cautious optimism' approach to AI safety
Published July 2026
Go to the source
The Decoderthe-decoder.com
Publisher excerpt: Google Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis has published a sweeping proposal for how to handle advanced AI. He wants a new US standards body modeled after financial regulator FINRA that would develop evaluation protocols for frontier models and could coordinate a slowdown in AI development if needed.…