Nick Bostrom: London's DeepMind is winning the global race to develop human-level artificial intelligence

Nick Bostrom, one of the leading voices on artificial intelligence, has singled out London research lab DeepMind as the company closest to developing a system that can mimic human-level artificial intelligence -- a target widely shared by those at the forefront of the AI industry. When asked who was leading the global AI race, Bostrom immediately responded with DeepMind. "Right now, I think here in London we have the DeepMind group who are, I think, the biggest [group] specifically focused on solving general intelligence," Bostrom told Business Insider at a breakfast meeting aboard the Sunbourn Yacht Hotel in East London on Wednesday. DeepMind, which employs approximately 250 people in King's Cross, was acquired by Google in 2014 for a reported £400 million. The organisation is perhaps best known for developing an AI agent that defeated the world champion of the ancient Chinese board, Go.