Google said it has seen faster advances in artificial intelligence (AI) as a result of closer collaboration between its cloud computing unit and its AI research lab.
Google Cloud has struck deals to weave its latest artificial intelligence models into popular consumer products, sharing more than 75 user stories, including from social app Snapchat and data storage company Pods, the company announced at its Gemini at Work virtual event. The company also unveiled new versions of its AI model, Gemini.
The collaboration between Google Cloud and the company’s research arm, Google DeepMind, may speed the product to market, executives said. That’s important as investors put pressure on parent company Alphabet Inc. to show how investments in artificial intelligence can be turned into new business.
It’s closer work between two business units that both have something to prove. Google Cloud, which has long lagged behind Amazon.com and Microsoft in the cloud computing market, is trying to use the excitement around generative artificial intelligence to expand its business. Google’s AI researchers invented much of the technology powering the latest wave of AI, but after OpenAI leapfrogged Google with the launch of ChatGPT, the search giant was under pressure to ease the path from research labs to products for consumers and businesses.
As progress in the field accelerates, Google’s AI researchers have had to “pick up the pace,” said Eli Collins, vice president of product at DeepMind.
“Researchers are incredibly motivated by seeing their work in the hands of real products and users,” Collins said. “It’s also been a cultural shift, not just within Google, but the rest of the research community, where a lot of the leading research labs are actually manufacturing companies at this point.”
In recent years, Google has lost a number of researchers who were eager to launch products. But one of the most outspoken members of that camp, Noam Shazeer, recently returned.
Across Silicon Valley, companies have struggled to unite research and manufacturing teams, which often have different incentives, said Sharon Zhou, CEO of Lamini Inc., a startup that helps companies use AI systems known as large language models.
“It is notoriously difficult to get AI research teams to produce and cooperate well,” Zhou wrote in a message. “Whoever figures out how to make these teams work well together will be the market leader. They are in great tension in many companies, from Google to their competitors.”
In an interview earlier this year, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said that strengthening ties with DeepMind was a key focus, noting that the teams in London, Seattle and the Bay Area work closely together, sometimes even alongside each other. In a session in June, Google Cloud employees presented user experiences with generative artificial intelligence to DeepMind researchers, and some of the features the teams discussed were included in Tuesday’s model launch, a Google Cloud spokeswoman said.
To sharpen the focus on the product, DeepMind’s researchers work not only with Google Cloud but also with corporate clients, Collins said. In a conversation with client Snap Inc., the owner of Snapchat, the company shared how users often use the app to help with homework. DeepMind adjusted its models accordingly, Collins said.
“Cloud customers are our customers,” Collins said.
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(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
