Google has merged its AI research department Brain and start-up DeepMind under a common brand, Google DeepMind. The move to integrate the two subsidiaries further into Google was foreshadowed in March 2023 when they began working together on a large language model under Project Gemini. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and DeepMind CEO and co-founder Demis Hassabis announced the merger to outside world in a series of blog posts. While previous Google Brain head Jeff Dean will be promoted to chief scientist at Google, Hassabis will lead the development of large general-purpose AI systems as CEO of Google DeepMind.
Google Research will continue basic research in areas including sustainability, data protection, security, health, climate and responsible AI. The tech and society team led by James Manyika seems likely to remain in place. AI and strong AI (Artificial General Intelligence, AGI) may bring one of the greatest scientific, economic and social upheavals, according to a letter Hassabis sent to his employees. The move, aimed at enabling Google to compete with rivals, reflects Alphabet’s shift from a search giant to a machine learning giant.
Since its founding in London in 2010, DeepMind has done pioneering work, including the development of AlphaGo, the first AI to beat a human in the game of Go. The company also created AlphaFold, which last year determined the 3D structures of almost all known proteins. The technology revolutionised pharmaceutical research, and helped earn the company a dedicated issue of the science journal, Science.
