Google DeepMind to Combine Google Research’s Brain Team
Google has announced the creation of a new unit called Google DeepMind. The new group will merge two of the world’s leading AI research teams—the Brain team from Google Research and DeepMind—under one unified umbrella
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – In a significant move aimed at accelerating its progress in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), Google has announced the creation of a new unit called Google DeepMind. The new group will merge two of the world’s leading AI research teams—the Brain team from Google Research and DeepMind—under one unified umbrella. The announcement was made jointly by Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.
Since becoming an AI-first company in 2016, Google has harnessed AI to enhance its core products, including Search, YouTube, and Gmail, as well as the camera technology in its Pixel phones. The company’s AI endeavors have also extended to Google Cloud, which empowers businesses and developers to leverage AI technologies. Moreover, Google has demonstrated AI’s capacity to address pressing societal issues, such as health and climate change.
Throughout this journey, Google has been at the forefront of AI research, with both its Brain team and DeepMind making groundbreaking discoveries that have revolutionized the AI landscape. These advances include the development of AlphaGo, Transformers, word2vec, WaveNet, AlphaFold, sequence-to-sequence models, deep reinforcement learning, and innovative software frameworks like TensorFlow and JAX.
The merger of these two world-class research teams into Google DeepMind is expected to significantly accelerate the company’s progress in AI, bolstered by Google’s computational resources. Under the leadership of Demis Hassabis as CEO, Google DeepMind will focus on developing highly capable and responsible general AI systems. These systems will help power the next generation of Google’s products and services.
As part of the restructuring, Jeff Dean will assume the elevated role of Google’s Chief Scientist, reporting to Sundar Pichai. In this capacity, Dean will serve as Chief Scientist to both Google Research and Google DeepMind, working alongside Hassabis to shape the future direction of AI research at Google. Among his initial responsibilities will be the development of a series of powerful, multimodal AI models.
Google Research will continue to lead fundamental advances in computer science across a range of areas, including algorithms, privacy and security, quantum computing, health, climate and sustainability, and responsible AI. James Manyika will oversee Google Research along with his existing Tech & Society teams.
The merger of these AI powerhouses signals an exciting new phase in Google’s AI journey. The company is confident that the newly formed Google DeepMind will drive innovation and help people around the world reach their potential with increasingly capable and responsible AI technologies
