Today’s post is about Akhil Raju, a software engineer in the robotics team. We first met Akhil in the second season DeepMind: The Podcastbut we wanted to get to know him better and hear more about his path to DeepMind.
What sparked your curiosity about artificial intelligence (AI)?
When I was young, I thought of artificial intelligence the same way I thought of magic. Yes, I wanted to hang out with R2-D2 and Optimus Prime – but I also wanted to go to Hogwarts. That is until I turned 12 and started entering LEGO robotics competitions. In that moment, I learned that robots were not a fantasy or something that could only exist in the distant future, but rather something that could be created in the present. Also, it turns out that playing with robots is incredibly fun.
What followed?
Very! From there I went on to robotics competitions, started university at MIT and spent a lot of time studying computer science with an emphasis on robotics. After graduation, I stepped away from the space completely and joined a startup in San Francisco for a few years before moving to Google.
It was great, but I always wanted to live abroad, so I started looking for opportunities outside the US. At that point, I decided to move to London and set my sights on DeepMind. I really didn’t think DeepMind hired people without a PhD, but I tried it and it worked!
Because I transferred from Google to DeepMind, I was able to apply to multiple groups at once. The robotics team wasn’t on my radar until my recruiter asked me, “By the way, you have robotics pieces on your resume. Have you considered joining our robotics team?’ I bit at the chance. And honestly, it’s been amazing ever since.
Can you walk us through a typical day? How is your schedule?
Every morning I go to the office for breakfast, where no doubt my teammates are already there. It has become part of our daily routine to have breakfast together before going to work.
I spend most mornings in the robotics lab, fixing failures from previous experiments or building new robots. Even when there isn’t much to do, I get energy from walking around and watching our robots at work, listening to the hum of machines and motors. We have grown a lot in the last few years and you can feel it as you walk through our premises.
My afternoons are a mix of meetings, coding and – now that most people are back in the office – an impromptu chat or two. This is one of my favorite parts of being in the office – the random meetings and whiteboard sessions that help me learn and move quickly. From there I’ll take a quick snack break and if the weather’s nice head out on the balcony to watch some of my favorite US sports podcasts (I still haven’t made the switch from soccer to football). Then I’ll code for a while longer.
What is it like behind the scenes at DeepMind?
The culture at DeepMind is one of the best parts of being here. From my perspective, we found a good balance between a university, a start-up and a large company. Most of the work culture comes from the first two.
It’s not uncommon to find people brainstorming in front of whiteboards with math scrawled on them, or someone tucked away in a quiet corner reading the latest research papers. Similar to a start-up, there is a palpable energy throughout – you can really feel everyone’s excitement.
It may be a cliché, but when you love what you do it doesn’t feel like work. The robotics team is a microcosm of all of these, with the bonus that many of us are close friends outside of work as well. It’s perfect.
How was working from home during the pandemic?
Like most people, I spent the first month of the pandemic in disbelief, assuming we would soon be back to normal. The majority of our meetings and collaborations were moved online, which was an interesting experience especially for our team.
Once I realized we were in this for the long haul, I decided to spend my newfound free time improving myself. I tried a bunch of hobbies – big enough in any case to say I’d tried, but not enough to have anything left. I had my guitar phase, a cooking phase, and even a puzzle phase, but my favorite was the tie-dye phase. There were a few weeks where I dyed everything from shirts to shorts to socks, and now they sit at the bottom of my closet (where they belong honestly).
What kind of positive impact do you hope artificial intelligence will have on the world?
I feel lucky to be at DeepMind and to be able to focus on the work I do. Robotics – and artificial intelligence in general – will be a positive force in the world, and it’s exciting to be able to help move that forward.
Overall, I’m particularly interested in how AI can help mitigate climate change – either by finding ways to use energy more efficiently or by enabling us to produce clean energy. The researchers at DeepMind are already thinking about this, so hopefully we can move the world forward and make an impact in this space.
Any tips for aspiring DeepMinders? Or someone looking to take on a similar role?
If you want to be in DeepMind, go for it. Apply, interview and just try. You might not get it the first time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try again. I didn’t think I would get a job at DeepMind, and when I got the offer, my initial thought was – surely this is wrong! Everyone doubts themselves – I never felt like the smartest person in the room. I have often felt the opposite. But I’ve learned that despite these feelings, I belong and deserve to work in a place like this. And this journey, for me, started simply with the effort.
Learn more about robotics at DeepMind and search for open roles today