Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in artificial intelligence (AI). This resurgence began late last year with the release of ChatGPT, a highly mature chatbot developed by startup OpenAI. The program also allows you to answer questions, fill out job applications, complete essays, and even compose haiku. What ignited the fire was microsoft The investment included a $10 billion investment, but the company had already raised $3 billion. Microsoft also announced plans to integrate ChatGPT into its search engine, Bing.
alphabet (Google -1.35%) (GOOG -1.34%) He then made the mistake of launching Bard, a next-generation chatbot, in a hurry, causing the launch to fail with a high-profile error during a showcase. That left many investors with the impression that Google’s parent company had ceded leadership in the AI race.
Today’s announcement by CEO Sundar Pichai should serve as a reminder that Alphabet has a long and distinguished history in AI, and that the game is still in its early stages.
Image Source: Getty Images.
AI powerhouse
In a letter to employees that was later shared as a blog post, Pichai announced that he would combine the Google Brain team and DeepMind, two of the most prominent companies in the AI space, into a single AI powerhouse. . Dubbed Google DeepMind, the group aims to share resources and “greatly accelerate progress in AI,” Pichai said. His CEO of the newly merged organization is Demis Hassabis, former CEO of DeepMind. Jeff Dean, head of Google Brain, will take over the role of Google’s chief scientist and report directly to Pichai.
A quick look at the history of these two groundbreaking teams suggests that the move could leverage Alphabet’s existing expertise in AI and set the stage for future success.
google brain
In 2012, when the company was still called Google, Alphabet brought together the talents of renowned AI expert and Stanford professor Andrew Ng and Google Senior Fellow Jeff Dean to launch the Google Brain project. . The first breakthrough came after researchers handpicked 10 million images of him from YouTube into an AI system, which was able to identify pictures of cats. This achievement was epoch-making at the time, and marked the beginning of the modern race to utilize AI.
Since then, the Google Brain team has made a number of significant advances in AI and machine learning. These include understanding and replicating human speech, translating foreign languages, building the complete human genome, detecting breast cancer with X-rays, and automating the creation of other AI models.
The Google Brain team is also extensively integrated into many of Alphabet’s day-to-day operations, improving everything from Google Maps to all-important search and powering the company’s cloud computing business, Google Cloud.
These achievements, and many others, should dispel any notion that Alphabet is lagging behind in the areas it helped pioneer.
deep mind
In 2014, Google acquired DeepMind, reportedly paying $500 million for it, but the company has operated as an independent entity ever since.
It may not be a household name, but DeepMind has an impressive track record. In 2016, DeepMind’s AlphaGo system mastered the 2,500-year-old Go, one of the world’s most complex and difficult board games that has haunted AI researchers for years. Shortly after, the system defeated the reigning Go world champion.
DeepMind also analyzed Google’s large data centers, evaluating 120 variables to derive the most efficient cooling process. DeepMind achieved a 40% reduction in the amount of energy required for cooling, ultimately reducing overall energy expenditure by 15%. This has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in energy savings and has paid for the DeepMind acquisition in one fell swoop.
DeepMind researchers recently developed Gato, a general-purpose AI system that is not just good at one task, but mastered over 600 tasks. The system can “play Atari, caption images, chat, and stack blocks.” Like a real robotic arm,” according to a blog created by the DeepMind team to promote their latest achievements. Gato doesn’t have a specific application yet, but its versatility is a big step forward for a single AI model.
What does all of this mean for the future of Alphabet and AI?
Alphabet has a long and distinguished history in AI, but some people seem to forget that fact. While the excitement for ChatGPT is understandable, it’s too early to declare a winner in this space.
Additionally, Alphabet already has a large scale language model (LLM) that can outperform GPT-3.5, the system that currently powers ChatGPT. Alphabet’s Pathways Language Model (PaLM) has been extended to 540 billion parameters, nearly three times that of GPT-3.5. Alphabet will reportedly announce a new application programming interface (API) for his PaLM and make it available to developers. This is the first step in a direct challenge to high-profile rivals.
But despite all of this AI experience and the vast opportunities ahead, Alphabet stock is trading at about four times its sales next year. It’s the first time in nearly a decade that stocks have fallen this low.
The integration of Google Brain and DeepMind brings together some of the best minds in the AI space, so don’t leave Alphabet out of the AI race too soon. It could be a costly investment mistake.
