Google is making a big push into artificial intelligence as it plans to combine its two deep-learning research groups, Brain and DeepMind, into one single team. Led by DeepMind’s co-founder and CEO Demis Hassabis, the new Google DeepMind will tackle crucial scientific and engineering challenges that are essential for successfully developing and utilizing advanced AI. As a leading AI research group, Google DeepMind’s mission is to take artificial intelligence (AI) to new heights, used in a safe and responsible way to improve lives of billions of people, transform multiple industries and bring revolutionary changes across research and development sectors.
Google has been an active participant in the tech industry when it comes to developing AI capabilities. Two known AI teams Brain and DeepMind that have been working separately in the company to further it. To achieve their goals faster and more efficiently, however, both these teams will be merged into one central organization– Google DeepMind.
Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and co-founder, has noted how this integration will help them move towards a future with “general AI” enhanced with more powerful capabilities. He believes that merging Brain and DeepMind can open new avenues to develop AI solutions with a broad range of applications, both in research and development.
For readers who are unfamiliar with the AI teams mentioned, Brain was formed in 2013 and focused on the areas of machine learning (ML) and AI. The unit has managed to create some momentous accomplishments in the form of Machine Perception Project, Google Cloud Speech API, Translate API and more. As for DeepMind, the company was acquired by Google in 2014, named after its AlphaGo project. Over the years, DeepMind has successfully developed multiple AI products applied by Google in various divisions. It also deployed the world’s first neural network-driven healthcare system with the launch of their AI-driven healthcare unit, in collaboration with the NHS.
With both Brain and DeepMind joining forces, an improved version of AI could provide considerable positive impacts on society, from healthcare diagnostics, natural conversation support systems to climate change predictions. However, progress in this field must be balanced with responsible implementation of AI solutions, taking into consideration of data security, user privacy and business ethics.
Google has, thus far, been a leader in developing AI solutions. The combination of Brain and DeepMind will ensure that the tech giant stays abreast of technological developments in the area, moving to an era of more powerful, general AI usage.
