Introducing Google DeepMind

Earlier today, we announced some changes aimed at accelerating our progress in AI and developing more capable AI systems safely and responsibly. Below is a recap of what DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis shared with employees:

Hi Team,

When we launched DeepMind back in 2010, many believed general AI was a far-fetched science fiction technology that would take decades to become a reality. Now, we find ourselves in an era where AI research and technology are advancing exponentially. In the coming years, AI—and ultimately AGI—has the potential to drive one of the greatest social, economic, and scientific transformations in history.

That’s why today, Sundar is announcing the consolidation of DeepMind and the Brain team from Google Research into a single, focused unit called Google DeepMind. By combining our talents and efforts, we will accelerate our progress toward a world in which AI helps solve the most significant challenges facing humanity. I am incredibly excited to lead this unit and work alongside all of you to build it.

Together, in close collaboration with our outstanding colleagues across the Google Product Areas, we have a genuine opportunity to deliver AI research and products that dramatically improve the lives of billions, transform industries, advance science, and serve diverse communities.

By creating Google DeepMind, I believe we can achieve our future more swiftly. Building increasingly capable and general AI, safely and responsibly, requires us to tackle some of the toughest scientific and engineering challenges of our time. For that, we need increased speed, stronger collaboration and execution, and a simplified decision-making process to focus on achieving the greatest impact.

Through Google DeepMind, we are uniting our world-class AI talent with the necessary computing power, infrastructure, and resources to create the next generation of AI breakthroughs and products across Google and Alphabet, all in a bold and responsible manner. The research advancements from the remarkable Brain and DeepMind teams have laid much of the groundwork for the current AI industry, from Deep Reinforcement Learning to Transformers. The work we undertake now as part of this new combined unit will lead to the next wave of world-changing breakthroughs.

Sundar, Jeff Dean, James Manyika, and I have forged an excellent partnership as we’ve coordinated our efforts over recent months. I look forward to working closely with Eli Collins, who will be joining my leads team as VP of Product, and Zoubin Ghahramani, who will become a member of the research leadership team reporting to Koray Kavukcuoglu. We are also establishing a new Scientific Board for Google DeepMind to oversee research progress and direction, which will be led by Koray and include representatives from across the organizations. Jeff, Koray, Zoubin, Shane, and I will finalize the composition of this board together in the coming days.

I’m sure you will have many questions about what this new unit means for you and your teams. We are committed to providing clarity for everyone as quickly as possible. Please read Sundar’s note and join us for the town hall meeting tomorrow.

I am thrilled to be on this journey with you and look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Best,
Demis