British Google AI boss Sir Demis Hassabis is among scientists to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry British News

The Briton Sir Demis Hassabis received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with two other scientists.

The trio around Sir Demis as well as the Americans Professor David Baker and Dr. John Jumper were honored Wednesday for their work decoding the structure of proteins and creating new proteins.

The research has contributed to advances in a number of areas, including drug development.

Half of the prize went to Prof. Baker “for computational protein design,” while Sir Demis and Dr. Jumper “for protein structure prediction” shared the other half, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Sir Demis, 48, is the chief executive of Google DeepMind artificial intelligence (AI) research subsidiary of Google. He studied computer science as an undergraduate at Queens' College, Cambridge, and then completed his PhD in cognitive neuroscience at University College London. He also founded the video game company Elixir Studios before co-founding DeepMind.

Prof. Baker, 62, is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, while Dr. Jumper, 39, also works as a senior research scientist.

Sir Demis and Dr. Jumper used AI to predict the structure of almost all known proteins, while Prof. Baker learned how to master the building blocks of life and create entirely new proteins, according to the awards organization.

Sir Demis said: “It's totally surreal, quite overwhelming to be honest.”

After checking in with his colleagues, including Dr. Jumper, he added: “David Baker, we've gotten to know him over the last few years and he's done absolutely groundbreaking work in protein design.”

“So it’s really, really exciting to win the award with both of them.”

Read more from Sky News:
Plane makes emergency landing after pilot dies
Florida is preparing for the arrival of the hurricane
Man hunted for raping 18-year-old girl

It is the second Nobel Prize to be awarded this week in connection with artificial intelligence John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton were awarded in the physics category.

About AI, Sir Demis said: “It has always been my passion, but… it is like any powerful, general-purpose technology: it can also cause harm if it falls into the wrong hands and is used for the wrong purposes.”

The prize, widely considered one of the most prestigious in the scientific world, is worth 11 million Swedish crowns (£810,000).