Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis made a bold claim at this year’s I/O keynote, stating that the company hopes to ‘reimagine the drug discovery process with the goal of one day solving all disease.’ This statement is more about encouraging researchers than promising an immediate cure.

Good science communication has become increasingly challenging. While experts in the audience may have understood Hassabis’ comments as a reference to tools like Gemini for Science, which use AI to accelerate drug discovery and research, the average person might interpret it as a definitive promise of cures. The reality is that significant ethical, logistical, and regulatory challenges remain.

AI has been an integral part of medical research for decades, with advancements such as AlphaFold and AlphaGenome helping to reduce development timelines and discover new proteins. However, these tools are not magic bullets and will likely take at least 20 years or more before they can have a substantial impact on eradicating diseases.

Hassabis’ comments mirror those of Health Secretary RFK Jr., who suggested that AI might make the Food and Drug Administration irrelevant by accelerating drug approval. These statements, while well-intentioned, often create misleading associations in the minds of the general public. The reality is that consumer AI health features are different from research tools, yet it’s human nature to conflate the two.