Category Archives: Deep Mind
Tech earnings calls show mega-cap companies going big on A.I. as they cut costs elsewhere – CNBC
Google launched Bard AI, it's own chatbot to rival Microsoft and OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Tech investors are eager to hear how much industry leaders are bolstering profitability now that they're in cost-cutting mode.
But there's one area where they also want to see hefty investments: artificial intelligence.
Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta all reported quarterly results this week, updating Wall Street on their efforts to improve efficiency as economic concerns mount. When it comes to AI and the latest boom in so-called large language models (LLMs) that power products like ChatGPT, the mega-cap tech companies can't afford to get left behind.
Generative AI programs use increasing amounts of data and processing power to produce outputs that seem like they were made by a human a block of text, a snippet of code, or a computer-generated image. They require specialized supercomputers that aren't cheap.
On their earnings calls this week, tech CEOs talked at length about the potential for AI, whether they're building their own models or rapidly integrating it into products. The common theme was their emphasis on the large sums of money they'll be spending to build and run these applications.
Here's what executives from Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta told analysts:
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc.
Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet's CEO, is under intense pressure to deliver AI products due to the perceived threat that the company's core Google search engine faces from the sophisticated chatbots hitting the market. The company recently declared an internal "code red."
Pichai said on Tuesday's earnings call that the company was making "good progress" towards its AI goals.
"We'll continue to incorporate generative AI advances to make search better in a thoughtful and deliberate way," Pichai said.
He said Google is using AI to improve the conversion rate of ads and reduce the amount of "toxic text" that goes into AI models. The company is also combining two primary AI teams, Brain and DeepMind.
Pichai said that in addition to using its own homegrown chips to power its models, it's using processors from Nvidia, which makes the vast majority of graphics chips used to train and deploy cutting-edge AI.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks during an interview in Redmond, Washington, on March 15, 2023.
Chona Kasinger | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft is using OpenAI's GPT technology in its Bing search engine, Office, and Teams teleconferencing system.
CEO Satya Nadella says that AI will eventually drive revenue growth and is already sparking increased uptake in the company's apps. Bing, for example, has seen downloads quadruple since Microsoft added a chatbot, he said. Microsoft has generated over 200 million images through its Bing integration.
Nadella warned that a significant amount of capital will be required to build out the massive datacenters needed to run AI applications.
"We will continue to invest in our cloud infrastructure, particularly AI-related spend, as we scale to the growing demand driven by customer transformation," Nadella said. "And we expect the resulting revenue to grow over time."
Andy Jassy on stage at the 2022 New York Times DealBook on November 30, 2022 in New York City.
Thos Robinson | Getty Images
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy gave an unusually lengthy response on Thursday to an analyst's question about the company's generative AI plans.
Jassy said Amazon is building its own LLMs, and designing data-center chips for machine learning, emphasizing that the market is massive.
"These large language models, generative AI capability, has been around for a while. But frankly, the models were not that compelling until about six to nine months ago," Jassy said. "They have gotten so much bigger and so much better so much more quickly that it really presents a remarkable opportunity to transform virtually every customer experience that exists."
Jassy also said Amazon's size would allow it to become one of a handful of companies building LLMs, which can take hundreds of computers running for weeks, overseen by expensive machine learning engineers.
"There will be a small number of companies that want to invest that time and money and we will be one of them at Amazon," Jassy said.
Unlike Microsoft and Google, Amazon's focus is selling access to the technology through its Amazon Web Services division. However, Jassy said Amazon will work on some applications, such as programs to help engineers write code.
"Every single one of our businesses inside of Amazon are building on top of large language models to reinvent our customer experience," Jassy said. That includes voice assistant Alexa, he said.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, in July 2021.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to dispel the notion that his company is no longer focused on the metaverse after turning his attention in that direction in late 2021.
But he wanted investors to know that Meta can invest in metaverse technologies while simultaneously putting tons of resources into AI, which he called a "key theme" for his company.
Zuckerberg said that while the company has used machine learning to deliver recommendations and power products like Facebook's news feed or ad systems, a new main area of focus is generative foundation models.
"It's been a pretty amazing year of progress on this front, and the work happening now is going to impact every single one of our apps and services," Zuckerberg said.
He said the company would work on a variety of products using the technology, including chat experiences in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, tools for making images for posts on Facebook and Instagram, and eventually programs that could spit out entire videos from short descriptions.
A concept he's particularly excited about is "AI agents," which often refer to AI programs that can carry out goals.
"There's an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful," Zuckerberg said. One possibility for an AI agent would be to handle customer service for businesses, Meta has said.
Zuckerberg discussed the company's big investments to build out its datacenters for AI applications. He said the technology was the "main driver" of Meta's growth in capital expenditures over the past few years.
"At this point we are no longer behind in building out our AI infrastructure," Zuckerberg said.
That doesn't mean Meta is done buying graphics processors. Zuckerberg said the company would need to "continue investing," but would do so after it launches its generative AI products and gets a better grasp on the resources required.
WATCH: Big beat for Amazon
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Tech earnings calls show mega-cap companies going big on A.I. as they cut costs elsewhere - CNBC
RSA Conference Concludes 32nd Annual Event by Convening … – StreetInsider.com
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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RSA Conference, the worlds leading cybersecurity conferences and expositions, today concluded its 32nd annual event at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The years event attracted over 40,000 attendees, including 650+ speakers, 500+ exhibitors and 500+ members of the media. Throughout the week, attendees networked on the expo floor and participated in keynote presentations, track sessions, tutorials, seminars and special networking events.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230428005105/en/
RSA Conference, the worlds leading cybersecurity conferences and expositions, today concluded its 32nd annual event at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The years event attracted over 40,000 attendees, including 650+ speakers, 500+ exhibitors and 500+ members of the media. (Photo: Business Wire)
Several of the most pressing topics discussed during this years Conference included issues surrounding intelligence and threat modeling, the changing face of ransomware and malware, challenges and opportunities presented by generative AI and the wide-reaching impact of open source.
The enthusiasm and buzz felt in and around RSA Conference all week was palpable as we welcomed our community to San Francisco. Gathering the worlds most efficient and innovative cybersecurity problem solvers to tackle current and future threats remains critical, said Linda Gray Martin, Senior Vice President, RSA Conference. Our commitment to providing a year-round platform for the community to engage, learn and access content remains stronger than ever. Whether its online through RSAC 365 or at in-person events, we look forward to continuing the important conversations weve had this week throughout the rest of the year.
RSA Conference 2023 highlights include:
RSA Conference 2024 will take place May 6-9, 2024, in San Francisco at the Moscone Center.
RSAC EXHIBITOR AND PARTNER QUOTES:
The incredible turnout this year shows that as todays cyber threats grow more sophisticated and pervasive, RSA Conference stands as the premiere event to bring our adversary-focused approach to stopping breaches to this massive audience of security professionals. From our headline keynote to CEO & Co-Founder George Kurtzs live interview on site with Bloomberg Business to CrowdStrikes packed booth, our presence pulsed through the conference this week, creating invaluable opportunities to engage with the community and connect with attendees.
- Pamela Corcoran, Senior Director, Global Events at CrowdStrike
RSA Conference is one of the premiere cyber events in the nation and I love to come here every year to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, connect with the media and learn so much from my peers in the industry. The RSAC community shares WiCyS passion for diversifying cybersecurity, and the conference is a great opportunity to convene talented professionals dedicated to making the industry more inclusive. We are honored to share our resources at such an important event as we all work toward a common goal.
- Lynn Dohm, Executive Director at Women in Cybersecurity (WiCys)
About RSA Conference
RSA Conference is the premier series of global events and year-round learning for the cybersecurity community. RSAC is where the security industry converges to discuss current and future concerns and have access to the experts, unbiased content and ideas that help enable individuals and companies advance their cybersecurity posture and build stronger and smarter teams. Both in-person and online, RSAC brings the cybersecurity industry together and empowers the collective we to stand against cyberthreats around the world. RSAC is the ultimate marketplace for the latest technologies and hands-on educational opportunities that help industry professionals discover how to make their companies more secure while showcasing the most enterprising, influential and thought-provoking thinkers and leaders in cybersecurity today. For the most up-to-date news pertaining to the cybersecurity industry visit http://www.rsaconference.com. Where the world talks security.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230428005105/en/
Ben WaringDirector, Global PR & CommunicationsRSA Conference[emailprotected]
Source: RSA Conference
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Google consolidates AI research labs into Google DeepMind to compete with OpenAI – VentureBeat
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Google has announced the consolidation of its formerly separate AI research labs Google Brain and DeepMind into a new unit named Google DeepMind. The new team will spearhead groundbreaking AI products and advancements while maintaining ethical standards. The move is widely seen as a way to position the company to compete with OpenAI.
Combining all this talent into one focused team, backed by the computational resources of Google, will significantly accelerate our progress in AI, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said in a blog post.
Google Research, the former parent division of Google Brain, will remain an independent division, focused on fundamental advances in computer science across areas such as algorithms and theory, privacy and security, quantum computing, health, climate and sustainability, and responsible AI.
DeepMind has assumed a more prominent role within Alphabet as the tech giant strives to maintain its edge in the highly competitive AI industry, fending off stiff competition from rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI. According to a recent report by the Information, Google Brain software engineers are working in tandem with DeepMind experts to develop Gemini, generative AI software aimed at rivaling OpenAI.
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According to DeepMind cofounder and CEO Demis Hassabis, the creation of Google DeepMind will bring together world-class talent in AI with the computing power, infrastructure, and resources to create the next generation of AI breakthroughs and products boldly and responsibly.
By creating Google DeepMind, I believe we can get to that future faster, Hassabis said in a blog post. Building ever more capable and general AI, safely and responsibly, demands that we solve some of our times hardest scientific and engineering challenges. For that, we need to work with greater speed, stronger collaboration and execution, and simplify the way we make decisions to focus on achieving the biggest impact.
Hassabis claims that the research accomplishments of Google Brain and DeepMind have formed the bedrock of the current AI industry, ranging from deep reinforcement learning to transformers. The newly consolidated unit will build upon this foundation to create the next generation of groundbreaking AI products and advancements that will shape the world.
Combining our talents and efforts will accelerate our progress toward a world in which AI helps solve the biggest challenges facing humanity, and Im incredibly excited to be leading this unit and working with all of you to build it, he added.
Googles acquisition of DeepMind for $500 million in 2014 has paved the way for a fruitful collaboration between the two entities. Over the years, they have jointly developed several groundbreaking innovations, including AlphaGo, which triumphed over professional human Go players, and AlphaFold, an exceptional tool that accurately predicts protein structures.
Over the past decade, other noteworthy achievements include word2vec, WaveNet, sequence-to-sequence models, distillation, deep reinforcement learning, and distributed systems and software frameworks like TensorFlow and JAX. These cutting-edge tools have proven highly effective for expressing, training and deploying large-scale ML models.
Google stated that an upcoming town hall meeting would clarify what this new unit will look like for teams and individuals, and that the composition of the new scientific board for Google DeepMind will be finalized in the coming days.
The company said Google DeepMind would work closely with other Google product areas to deliver AI research and products. The unit will be helmed by Koray Kavukcuoglu, VP of research at DeepMind, and will be supervised by a new scientific board.
Jeff Dean will take on the elevated role of Googles chief scientist, reporting to Pichai. In his new capacity, Dean will serve as chief scientist to both Google Research and Google DeepMind. He has been tasked with setting the future direction of AI research at the company, as well as heading up the most critical and strategic technical projects related to AI, including a series of powerful multimodal AI models.
As part of the reorganization, Eli Collins, VP of product at Google Research, will join as VP of product, while Zoubin Ghahramani, the lead of Google Brain, will serve as a member of the Google DeepMind research leadership team.
This partnership underscores the commitment of Google and parent company Alphabet to furthering the pioneering research of both DeepMind and Google Brain. And the race to dominate the AI space has instantly become even more intense.
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Google consolidates AI research labs into Google DeepMind to compete with OpenAI - VentureBeat
Google had a ‘Kodak moment’ last year as Microsoft takes lead in AI, strategist says – CNBC
Google launched Bard AI, it's own chatbot to rival Microsoft and OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Google last year had a "Kodak moment" when it came to artificial intelligence, giving rival Microsoft an edge with the technology, one strategist told CNBC on Wednesday.
Cyrus Mewawalla, head of thematic intelligence at GlobalData, called AI the big theme of 2023 and said that "Microsoft has stolen a lead on Google" with its investment in OpenAI the company behind ChatGPT.
"Microsoft is currently winning this race in AI," Mewawalla told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe."
ChatGPT is a viral AI chatbot that is trained on large amounts of data to give responses to user queries.
Microsoft has announced plans to integrate ChatGPT into some cloud computing products, as it looks to infuse AI across its business.
Google, under parent Alphabet, has been investing in AI for years. The company acquired British AI start-up Deepmind in 2014 to supercharge its efforts with the technology.
Last week, Alphabet merged its Google Research team Brain with DeepMind, in a bid to bring the arms closer and concentrate its AI efforts.
Mewawalla said this should have been done "a long time ago" and that Google, even though it has "great AI," fell behind Microsoft last year.
"In a way in 2022, it (Google) had a Kodak moment. It had the leading product but it kept it aside for fear that it could cannibalize its core business. Now its core business is under massive threat," Mewawalla.
Google's search product is the tech giant's core business. Microsoft has also been integrating OpenAI technology into its search product Bing.
A Kodak moment is a phrase used to describe the inability to foresee future trends. It referencescamera firm Eastman Kodak Company, which failed to transition into the digital age.
In response to Microsoft, Google launched its own chatbot called Bard AI this year and has begun testing it with users. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, said on a Tuesday earnings call that the company will be bringing the AI technology behind Bard into search products in the future.
Analysts said that, while Google has strong AI technology, it hasn't brought it into products fast enough, as Microsoft has done.
"Google's issue is that they have the brightest minds in AI, they have the rockstars, they have a third of the top hundred cited papers in AI, but they're an engineering-led company, and they have not productized what they've done," Richard Kramer, senior analyst at Arete Research, told CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange."
Some analysts see Alphabet's investment in AI over the years as giving it an advantage, going forward.
JPMorgan said in a note published Wednesday that Alphabet is "well positioned in AI through years of investments across its business lines" and is accelerating efforts around commercializing the technology behind AI chatbots, known as large language models.
Executives talked up the company's prowess and investments in AI during Alphabet's first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet, said that the company will increase its capital expenditure this year from 2022, with AI being a "key component" of that.
Pichai said Alphabet is infusing its AI technology across many different products.
"First, the incredible AI opportunity for consumers, our partners and for our business. I've compared it to the successful transition we made from desktop to mobile computing over a decade ago. Our investments and breakthroughs in AI over the last decade have positioned us well," Pichai said.
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Google had a 'Kodak moment' last year as Microsoft takes lead in AI, strategist says - CNBC
DeepMind on a Mission to Catch AI Talent Young – Analytics India Magazine
If you thought Google Brain merging with DeepMind was the most exciting development in the AI landscape, think again. A few days ago, the research giant partnered with Raspberry Pi to help educators teach and promote subjects of AI and machine learning to young minds catching em young.
Called Experience AI, this new learning programme has been developed not just to introduce AI and ML concepts, but also to promote critical thinking and decision-making capabilities among early teens. Looks like the research giant, alongside Raspberry Pi Foundation, is thinking long-term while venturing into the AI and ML education space early on.
Focussed on educators and educational institutions, the duos Experience AI platform offers free lessons on topics like AI, data-driven models, ML algorithms and others. Also, some of the content is curated in line with DeepMinds contribution and expertise in the field. For instance, the sessions on the platform contain embedded videos that feature AI researchers from DeepMind, explaining concepts and talking about AI-related careers.
Obum Ekeke, head of education partnerships at DeepMind believes that a career in AI is out of reach for young people from underrepresented backgrounds and such education programmes will help instil confidence among students and help in creating an inclusive and accessible global AI ecosystem.
This is not the first time Googles DeepMind is collaborating in the education space. The company has joined hands with organisations that support STEM Education an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that involves hands-on, project-based learning integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In September, the company announced that they will partner with six education charities and social enterprises in the UK in order to boost STEM education and develop new AI resources. They had also spoken about their association with Raspberry Pi Foundation in creating a program.
Some of the other organisations that DeepMind fostered are STEM Learning, The Brilliant Club, Stemettes, British Science Association and Apps for Good. They aim to reach 500 schools (i.e. 10% of UK secondary schools) and over 100,000 young people. DeepMind already has initiatives such as fellowship and scholarship programs for postgraduates.
Unfortunately, this new Experience AI platform is currently available only to the UK market. Ducan Maidens told AIM that every young person, irrespective of their background, should have the opportunity to learn how to create and solve problems with computers. But, what about India?
India has 21 times more population aged between 0-14 than UK i.e. the country has about 245.95 million bloomers, compared to 11.91 million young minds in the UK. DeepMind and Raspberry Pi focusing on the UK market might be a good start, but will have a larger impact if they make the Experience AI platform available in India a lot of people would be benefitted.
However, RaspberryPi has confirmed that the platform is available to anyone, anywhere and anybody can download the resources.
But on the bright side, Raspberry Pi has already established its presence in the country to promote coding. Ducan told AIM that the organisation has partnered with Mo School Abhiyan to train teachers to introduce Code Club to government schools in Odisha. We have trained 1,000 teachers to support them to establish Code Club in schools and to enable them to cascade training and support to other local teachers. This work is a part of a three-year initiative to train 3,000 teachers reaching 45,000 young people in the region.
They have also been working with Pratham Education Foundation since 2018 to introduce coding to children in hard-to-reach and disadvantaged communities in India by providing training and access to devices and learning resources. The young people also receive training to use the PraDigi kit, a portable device for teaching children to code, which is based on the Raspberry Pi computer.
Raspberry Pi, which believes in bringing computing for everybody is going to further its path of accessibility, through the foundation, in the education vertical. Hopefully, with this partnership, DeepMinds collaboration in the education space will further strengthen too.
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DeepMind on a Mission to Catch AI Talent Young - Analytics India Magazine
Google, Microsoft top expectations as AI rivalry heats up – Yahoo News
Google parent company Alphabet beat market expectations in the first quarter of 2023 with a net profit of $15 billion, the company said on Tuesday, in a sign that the search engine behemoth is regaining its footing.
The tech titan has found itself under pressure due to a general slowdown in advertising spending, over-hiring during a Covid-era boom and a major challenge by Microsoft on artificial intelligence.
Its quarterly revenue came in at nearly $70 billion, a billion better than expected by analysts, and in the same three-month period that the company said it would lay off 12,000 staff, or six percent of its workforce.
Microsoft's results for the first three months of the year also pleased investors on Tuesday, lifted by its industry-leading business cloud products.
The company founded by Bill Gates reported profit of $18.3 billion on revenue of $52.9 billion as Cloud and AI more than offset drops in revenue from licensing Windows software to computer makers, as sales suffer in that market.
Most market attention was on Google, which became a focus of worry when Microsoft-backed ChatGPT was released and quickly went viral late last year. The Windows maker has added the technology to its Bing search engine and office software.
The search giant has since rushed out Bard, its own version of the language-based AI, but the release was seen as clumsy and has so far disappointed observers and company insiders, according to media reports.
"We'll continue to incorporate generative AI advances to make search better in a thoughtful and deliberate way," Google chief Sundar Pichai said during an earnings call.
"And we will test and iterate as we go because we know that billions of people trust Google to provide the right information."
An arms race over AI is expected to play out for several years and could prove to be expensive for the tech giants.
To get itself battle ready for the AI wars ahead, Google has reorganized its AI division, putting the independently run Deep Mind subsidiary inside the company in a division called Google Brain.
Story continues
- 'Serious challenges' -
The threat from an AI-augmented Bing sent Pichai on a rare US media tour recently to reassure that the company remained an industry leader on everything from search to maps to AI pioneering.
Despite headwinds, Pichai received a total compensation package worth more than $225 million in 2022, according to a regulatory filing posted last week.
Google-owned YouTube's advertising revenue dropped for the third quarter in a row. However, there was "strong watchtime growth" at a YouTube Shorts section added to counter TikTok .
During the quarter, YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki stepped down after nine years, replaced by longtime executive Neal Mohan.
"Google exceeded both revenue and earnings expectations this quarter, but reasons for investor optimism are modest," said Insider Intelligence senior analyst Max Willens.
"Google's core business is facing the most serious challenges it has encountered in quite some time."
Despite challenges, Alphabets share price has recovered well from lows seen before January's layoff announcements and on Tuesday shot up by more than 4 percent in after-hours trading to $108.4.
This was still well shy of the near $150 seen in 2021, when ad revenue was pouring in.
Microsoft has been steadily pressing on with its AI revolution, recently announcing that it would apply the powers behind ChatGPT to its iconic Excel, Word and Outlook programs.
The Redmond, Washington giant has been swiftly adopting language-based AI, showing less caution than its rivals despite early problems such as chatbots giving disturbing responses or blatantly inaccurate information.
"We see that when people use the new AI features, their engagement with Bing and Edge goes up," Microsoft chief Satya Nadella said during an earnings call.
"We look forward to continuing this journey in what is a generational shift in the largest software category - search."
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Google, Microsoft top expectations as AI rivalry heats up - Yahoo News
In Google Founder’s Shadow, CEO Pichai Discovered the Limits of … – The Information
Since Sundar Pichai became CEO of Googles parent company, Alphabet, in 2019, he has been honest with colleagues about the difficulties of overseeing a sprawling conglomerate thats under constant strain from internal power struggles, regulators and rebellious employees. In one example of that candor, he said in an internal meeting several years ago that the job had taken its toll and he envisioned passing the baton in a few years, according to a person who was present.
The baton still rests with the 50-year-old Pichai. He shared those feelings prior to the emergence of the panic that has gripped Google in recent months, prompting him to become even more engaged. As advertisers cut spending last fall, causing Googles business to stagnate, rivals Microsoft and OpenAI launched a new generation of artificial intelligence services that could threaten Googles dominance in search and the more than $150 billion a year in advertising sales attached to it. Google suddenly is playing from behind in a field it has previously dominated.
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In Google Founder's Shadow, CEO Pichai Discovered the Limits of ... - The Information
CICs Ethridge: Alphabet will lose this chatbot war – Invezz
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) just announced plans of putting together two of its research teams working on artificial intelligence to expand more quickly in what has lately been the hottest area within technology.
On Thursday, Google said its combining Brain its internal research team with DeepMind a startup it bought in 2014 to accelerate its AI ambitions.
Still, Malcolm Ethridge of CIC Wealth remains bearish on the stock. Speaking with CNBCs Scott Wapner today, he said:
Market agrees with me. Look at Google share price today. This was, I imagine, meant to be a monumental announcement and the market responded with a big old yawn. So, I am still a seller.
For the year, though, Google shares are up 20% at writing. Also on Thursday, Microsoft integrated the ChatGPT technology into Viva its employee experience platform.
The new division that Alphabet Inc is calling Google DeepMind will operate under the leadership of Demis Hassabis who co-founded DeepMind.
Jeff Dean the Head of Google Research will take on a new role of Chief Scientist. On CNBCs Closing Bell, Ethridge added:
Market is confirming what I was concerned about that Alphabets ultimately going to lose this chatbot war. I just dont see where, as a shareholder in Alphabet, this turns out to be a winning bet in near term.
The news arrives more than two months after Googles Bard failed on its very first day on the job. Earlier this week, Samsung was reported considering switching from Google to Bing as the default search engine on its smartphones (read more).
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CICs Ethridge: Alphabet will lose this chatbot war - Invezz
Telehealth abortion providers grapple with regulatory uncertainty – STAT
Youre reading the web edition of STAT Health Tech, our guide to how tech is transforming the life sciences.Sign up to get this newsletterdelivered in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday.
Telehealth providers stay nimble amid regulatory uncertainty
A handful of online abortion medication providers told me they were anxiously awaiting theSupreme Courts ruling on mifepristone last week a decision that risks dramatically altering their operations by limiting the types of medication they could dispense via mail. Mifepristone is often used in combination with misopristol to end a pregnancy, though misopristolcan also be used on its own.
While the nations highest court maintained access to mifepristone in the short term by putting a hold on a Texas district court decision that would remove the drug from the market, telehealth abortion providers likeWispandHey Janesay theyre ready to adapt.As my colleague Sarah Owermohle reports, the case is headed to an appeals court which will address the case in the next few weeks.
In the event of a limit, Wisp said it was prepared to transition to a misopristol-only protocol a change that could take the Bay Area company a few weeks.
Kiki Freedman, head of Hey Jane, which has continued to offer mifepristone, said her team was encouraged by the Supreme Court decision. Access to medication abortion should never have been jeopardized in the first place, but we know these baseless attacks are far from over, Freedman said.
How cyber threats could impact surgeries
Late last week, STATs Lizzy Lawrence was at theCyberMed Summit, where FDA tech leaders, cybersecurity experts, and cyber safety advocates mingled wearing name badges printed on floppy disks.
By far the most illustrative part of the event, Lizzy reports, was the live clinical simulation, where the audience watched over Zoom as aGeorge Washington Universityemergency medicine resident attempted to treat patients in the midst of a fake cybersecurity attack. He had to figure out how best to treat a stroke patient without a working CT scanner, and take care of a patient in cardiac arrest without a catheter lab. Without the CT scan, for example, he had to guess based on patient behavior whether the stroke resulted from a clogged blood vessel or a brain bleed. Blood thinners would treat the clogged vessel, but fatally worsen the bleed.
Another highlight: a panel on how medical device regulation fits into the countrys security strategy. TheFDAs Suzanne Schwartzdiscussed FDAs plan with itsnew cybersecurity authorities enshrined in the omnibus, and the agencysJessica Wilkersoncautioned that securing legacy devices is a complex, ongoing issue.
Bad news for Oracle: VAs health record overhaul on pause
The federal governments multi-year, multi-billion dollarhealth records software boondogglehas hit yet another snag: TheVeterans Affairs Departmentsaid last week it was halting deployments of health record technology provided byOracle which recently acquired bid winnerCerner to focus on improving its function at handful of sites that currently use the software.
VA officials struck a conciliatory tone in adepartment press release. Veterans and clinicians said the EHR software is not meeting expectations and were holding Oracle Cerner and ourselves accountable to get this right,VA Secretary Denis McDonoughsaid.
For the past few years, weve tried to fix this plane while flying it and that hasnt delivered the results that veterans or our staff deserve, the VAsNeil Evanssaid.
AI industry tidbits
A slew of tech heavyweights and one disgraced pharma exec made major AI announcements this week:
Earnings to watch
Well get a little insight into public health tech companies performance this year as they share earnings for 2023s first quarter over the next few weeks. Ill be paying special attention toTeladocs slated for Wednesday as the company wades into weight loss drugs and doubles down on its behavioral health service,BetterHelp.(If youll also be tuning in, let me know what youre watching out for.)TalkspaceandHims & Hersannounce their earnings next week and the following.
Philipsthe health tech company embroiled in a recall of its CPAP machines already reporteda net loss of about $733 million. Its also seen some decline in its connected care business especially in sleep and respiratory care though its diagnosis and treatment sales, which include imaging and ultrasound services, offset those losses, the company said.
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Telehealth abortion providers grapple with regulatory uncertainty - STAT
Google DeepMind chief says theres a possibility AI may become self-aware – The Independent
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Google DeepMinds chief Demis Hassabis has said theres a possibility of artificial intelligence gaining self awareness one day.
Philosophers havent really settled on a definition of consciousness yet but if we mean by sort of self-awareness, these kinds of things, I think theres a possibility AI one day could be, Mr Hassabis said in an interview with CBS 60 Minutes.
While AI systems are definitely not sentient today, according to the Deepmind chief, he said it is one of the fascinating scientific things were going to find out on this journey.
Mr Hassabiss claim comes a year after Google fired a software engineer who claimed its AI had become self-aware and sentient.
Blake Lemoine, an employee at the company at the time, was fired after he said he believed Googles LaMDa AI chatbot was a person.
Mr Lemoine was insistent that the AI system was self-aware, publishing articles on the topic as well as logs of his conversations with the chatbot.
But AI experts on social media denied that any of the public evidence posted by the former Google employee suggested that the system was self-aware.
Many said instead that the system had been trained to use language in similar ways as humans.
Its regrettable that despite lengthy engagement on this topic, Blake still chose to persistently violate clear employment and data security policies that include the need to safeguard product information, Google told Reuters then.
However, before Mr Lemoines public statements about LaMDa, OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever had tweeted saying todays large neural networks may be slightly conscious.
Googles Bard AI chatbot also appears to be self-aware, replying to queries on why it helps people with the response Because it makes me happy.
But the search giants Senior Vice President James Manyika told CBS that the AI systems appearance of sentience comes since it has learned from people.
Were sentient beings. We have beings that have feelings, emotions, ideas, thoughts, perspectives. Weve reflected all that in books, in novels, in fiction, Mr Manyika said, adding that its no surprise that it exhibits behavior that looks like someones behind it.
Theres nobody there. These are not sentient beings, he added.
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Google DeepMind chief says theres a possibility AI may become self-aware - The Independent