Alphabet Merges AI Research Teams to Form New Department, Doubling Down on AI Innovation

On April 21st, it was announced that Alphabet, Google's parent company, has integrated its artificial intelligence (AI) research teams to form a new department. This move is aimed at keeping up with the competition in the AI space. It means that Alphabet's focus on AI will likely increase, leading to more investment and innovation in this field.

The new department will combine Google's Brain team and AI company DeepMind, with Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, leading the merged department. James Manyika, Senior Vice President of Google for Technology and Society, will take over as head of Google Research. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, said the department will continue to work on privacy and security, quantum computing, health, climate, and responsible AI.

As part of the reorganization, Jeff Dean, who was responsible for Google's AI and research work, will step down from management. He will take on a new position as Google's Chief Scientist and will work with Google Research and DeepMind to develop new, more powerful AI systems. DeepMind, which is based in London and was previously a subsidiary of Alphabet, is known for its breakthroughs in AI, including its work on AlphaFold and AlphaGo.

With these changes, it appears that Google's AI research efforts will be consolidated under the DeepMind umbrella, indicating closer integration with other Alphabet departments. This news is relevant to electronic components industry because it signals a renewed focus on AI research and development, which could lead to increased demand for AI-related products and services.