When the search giant announced that it had acquired the artificial intelligence company, many people wondered: why did Google buy DeepMind? In fact, Google has been building artificial intelligence technology for years, having previously acquired the learning thermostat and smart fire alarm company Nest.
While Google has not interfered much with DeepMind’s work, recent developments have raised concerns about its independence. While the company continues to be very involved in the development of artificial intelligence, it seems to have made this purchase for strategic reasons.
One reason for the move is the expertise of DeepMind in AI research. The company’s AI assistant, dubbed ‘Ambassador’, is powered by the same AI algorithms developed by Google’s rival, Microsoft. But Google is making the move to integrate the projects under one umbrella. The company’s new health service, DeepMind Health, will work under Google Health, a company led by former Geisinger CEO David Feinberg. While the company plans to expand its DeepMind Health service beyond the U.K., privacy campaigners say the company broke its promise.
While the AI algorithms developed by DeepMind were used to defeat human players in early video games, it has also been applied in other areas. It has recently been used to improve Google Maps’ arrival estimation, detect breast cancer and track wildlife. Google has not commented on the acquisition of DeepMind, but DeepMind has two US patents. These patents are aimed at improving the search experience on its website.
According to reports, Google has spent around PS400 million for DeepMind Technologies. The company was founded by former chess prodigy Demis Hassabis. The company is working on powerful general-purpose learning algorithms. Google’s acquisition has been widely criticized by industry observers because DeepMind hasn’t made any profits. However, Google’s acquisition of DeepMind is expected to be worth at least $500 million.
As the company’s sole shareholder, Hassabis is in a position to determine its future. DeepMind employees are thrilled with the research agenda of the company, which they perceive to be free of the constraints of academic research. The company also has subsidiary offices in Alberta and Paris. Nonetheless, employees feel a greater affinity for Google than with Hassabis. However, while there are many benefits to the acquisition, some DeepMind employees do prefer Google.
Google bought DeepMind Technologies, a London-based artificial intelligence company, for an undisclosed amount. The company had a valuation of up to $400 million and has demonstrated its ability to play games. The team’s technology is expected to help Google create artificial intelligence applications for games and e-commerce. Ultimately, the company wants to develop computer systems that think like humans. Its CEO Demis Hassabis has already made a few predictions about the company’s future – and the future of artificial intelligence.
The decision to purchase DeepMind was clearly strategic for Google. The company is likely the largest AI research operation in the world. It makes its money from selling its artificial intelligence technology to Alphabet, which brings in $182.5 billion in revenue a year. DeepMind’s losses rose by 1.5% in 2019, according to the company’s annual report filed with the U.K.’s Companies House registry. The company is expected to make pre-tax profits of up to $63 million in 2020 and triple its revenue to $1.1 billion by 2023.
The company’s scientists are currently working on a variety of projects, including the detection of breast cancer. DeepMind is collaborating with Google’s AI health research group and the Imperial College London’s Cancer Research U.K. Center. Their goal is to develop a system that improves the detection of breast cancer. Each year, mammogram scans fail to detect thousands of cancers, leading to false alarms.
The company also announced a new ethics committee and funded an AI professorship at University College London. The CEO, Tony Hwang, said: “We have signed an Ethics and Safety Review Agreement with ATRC to ensure that all our research is ethically sound.”
AlphaGo, the AI program developed by DeepMind, beat Go world champion Lee Jie twice in one year, proving that artificial intelligence can beat human opponents. Ultimately, AlphaGo is considered the world’s best Go player. Despite being developed in Python, AlphaGo was able to beat the world Go champion and two Go champions within a year of its release. If the algorithm becomes even better, it could beat human Go players.
In the demo, DeepMind did not talk about reward functions. They emphasized their work on learning to respond to complex environments, not in simple ways. The AI company also developed a reward function for AlphaGo, a complex strategy computer game. Moreover, they have an internal leaderboard where competing teams compete for mastery of virtual worlds. Further, the company has been investing a lot of money in DeepMind’s research, which is a crucial step towards artificial intelligence.