Sergey Brin is back at Google to help AI endeavors
Google is pulling out all the stops to get ahead in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. The company even went to its co-founders who stepped down from active roles in 2019 to improve its chances. It seems one of them is back in an active role. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google co-founder Sergey Brin is actively involved in the firm's AI strategy.
Why does this story matter?
Google has never been content with the fact that OpenAI and Microsoft beat it to start the generative AI revolution. The tech giant's displeasure was magnified when its initial attempts at catching up to its rivals ended in embarrassment. However, the company has made some giant leaps in AI since then. The involvement of Brin could further improve Google's AI portfolio.
Brin is visiting Google's office 3-4 times a week
At the start of this year, we found that Larry Page, another Google co-founder, and Brin held meetings with company executives over the firm's AI strategy. Brin seems to have taken it up a notch now. Per the report, he has been visiting Google's Mountain View, California office three to four times a week in recent months.
He is working closely with Gemini researchers
Brin's primary interest is Gemini, the highly anticipated AI model from Google DeepMind. It is expected to outshine OpenAI's GPT-4. The co-founder, who is now an Alphabet board member, is reportedly spending a lot of time with researchers working on Gemini. Gemini is still in training and is expected to be available later this year.
Brin is also involved in hiring AI researchers
Brin has been discussing the technical aspects of Gemini with researchers. His new role in Google is, however, not limited to Gemini. He also held weekly discussions with Google employees on new AI research and appeared at research gatherings. He is even involved in personnel matters such as hiring sought-after AI researchers. Google has lost several key researchers in AI recently.
His knowledge and experience could help Google in AI race
The imperative question here is about what Brin brings to the table. Is he back because he doesn't trust Google's current leadership, or is it because he can add value to the company's AI quests? It seems to be the latter. Brin's knowledge and experience could be what Google needs to return to where it was before OpenAI and Microsoft made AI their own.
