Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced the formation of a new business unit named Google Deepmind, which merges the Brain team from Google Research and DeepMind, a London-based AI company that Google had acquired in 2014. The new unit aims to accelerate the company’s progress in developing artificial intelligence in a responsible manner. With this move, Pichai intends to significantly accelerate Google’s progress in AI, mainly focused on building a series of powerful, multimodal AI models.
While AI has the potential to solve humanity’s biggest challenges, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has voiced his concerns that the technology could lead to the destruction of civilization. Hence, Pichai clarified that the creation of the AI-focused unit is to build more capable systems safely and responsibly.
Although it has been revealed that the subsequent AI developments will be used in enhancing Google products, specific implementation details remain unknown. Nonetheless, a recent survey of 11,004 American citizens revealed that 62% of Americans believe AI will have a significant impact on workers generally, with just 28% believing that it will have a substantial effect on them personally. Additionally, 56% of respondents believed that AI would have a major impact on the U.S. economy. The fears of an AI takeover in the workplace have persisted.
The formation of Google Deepmind is an excellent move towards responsible AI development. This move comes at a time when fears of AI domination remain widespread. Google’s commitment to developing AI in a way that ensures its safety and responsibility is commendable. With the formation of Google Deepmind, the company hopes to leverage AI’s capabilities and positively contribute to the world.
