Is DeepMind part of Google? The answer might surprise you. Google’s artificial intelligence division recently bought DeepMind, a British startup, for more than $1 billion. The firm is considered the premier lab in the world for AI, and it has achieved notable success in other areas. Google has created self-driving cars and is building a robotics division, led by Andy Rubin. The company also recently acquired robotics firm Boston Dynamics.
The company has made huge advances in artificial intelligence, and its 2014 acquisition of Nest sparked criticism about the company’s data-sharing policies. In the case of DeepMind, the company also failed to inform patients about its trial, and it had been accused of not complying with data protection laws. The decision led to the creation of an ethics board for DeepMind, which the search company has pledged to do.
Some Google employees have expressed frustration with the deal. Google has repeatedly claimed that AI is the company’s future, and DeepMind has been pressured by executives to commercialize its work. DeepMind’s research has been used by Google for various projects, including improving battery life in Android devices and reducing energy consumption in data centers. But the company is not making money from these projects, and it’s losing money.
Google paid $50 million to acquire DeepMind in 2014. The AI company’s AlphaGo AI system defeated Lee Sedol in a Go game. However, it has faced criticism for gaining access to personal health records, which led to the ICO ruling against the company. Although the company continues to make major advances in AI, it faces many privacy and transparency issues. If DeepMind does have any future, they will continue to lead the way in this area.
The company’s latest project is a wind-energy program. DeepMind developed algorithms to forecast the output of a wind farm 36 hours before it actually generated energy. They used historical turbine data and local weather forecasts to train the neural network. The algorithms then suggested an hourly delivery commitment to the power grid that optimized Google’s wind energy. This program has increased the value of Google’s wind energy by 20 percent. They plan to continue improving their model and making it more commercially viable.
The company has also made advances in AI research, such as using deep neural networks to beat world champion Lee Sedol in the board game Go. AlphaGo is an application of deep learning in image search, speech recognition, and other areas. DeepMind’s AlphaGo program surpassed the world champion Lee Sedol’s Go program in four out of five games. It also has applications in fraud detection and spam detection.
The company has a diverse history. Founded by Demis Hassabis, the AI group has been under Google’s umbrella since December 2013. However, it is not known if this is a new division or an extension of the company. Google acquired DeepMind in December 2013, merging seven technology companies, including Xavier, for “experimental research”.
This AI can navigate major cities without a map and move from one place to another. In other words, it can build realistic images from nothing. DeepMind researchers trained the neural network by using the ImageNet database. The AI network then learned how to navigate through these obstacles and create realistic images. Once it had learned how to walk in different bodies, the team began experimenting with virtual environments with obstacles. It was rewarded each time it reached a desired location.
AlphaFold’s performance in 2018 was so impressive that many scientists in the field were startled. While it was similar to the work done by other AI teams, DeepMind’s approach to protein structure prediction is different. The team used structural and genetic data to predict the distance between amino acids. The resulting protein, called ‘AlphaFold’, was the first to enter the CASP competition. While it has yet to be confirmed, this breakthrough could be the start of a revolution in biology.