Google DeepMind CEO Predicts Spending Over $100 Billion on Future AI Development

At a Vancouver TED conference in April, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis discussed the future of AI and the tech giant's plans to compete with Microsoft and OpenAI. Having been recently knighted for his service toward artificial intelligence, Hassabis predicted that Google would spend over $100 billion to become one of the world's foremost AI developers.

Google's AI Push

DeepMind is well-known for being Google's AI-obsessed subsidiary, leading the tech giant's machine learning research during the 2010s. Since generative AI emerged, however, most Google businesses have harnessed AI in some form or fashion, including launching their own AI assistant – Bard, now better known as Gemini.

Google has ambitions of using AI to upgrade their services and better determine the intent of users when they hit the search button. Having released several SEO updates in the last year, Google is shaping its future AI policy while developing a more sophisticated way to judge webpages by their content and on-page assets. In short, online businesses like review blogs or iGaming sites now get ranked closer to the user's search intentions. If a user searches for slots online for real cash at Betfair, then they'll get served a high-ranking branded page from a verified iGaming provider. If a user searches for reviews, tutorials, or newsworthy topics, then Google's new experience guidelines come into effect to filter out low-quality articles. As part of their helpful content guidelines, Google revealed that AI-generated content can still rank so long as it meets the same quality and originality standards as other human-produced pages online.

After launching Gemini while considering AI in their search rubric, it's clear that the tech giant anticipates AI being a large part of the company's future. Google are reportedly considering premium AI-powered search, as reported by The Guardian. If true, that means their world-class search engine will receive a new, upgraded tier that depends on the quality of Google's AI research and development. That R&D doesn't come cheap, but DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis reassured audiences that Google is fully committed to AI investment in the future.

Google's $100 Billion War Chest

OpenAI changed a lot of industries when it unveiled ChatGPT in late 2022. Since then, the business has doubled down with products like the video generator Sora, its unreleased Voice Engine, and a panoply of partnerships with tech companies including Microsoft. Meta Platforms has also announced plans to move toward AI development, while former employees of both Meta and DeepMind have started Mistral AI, a French developer that rocketed to a $2 billion valuation in less than a year.

Like with any emerging tech, Google is facing a lot of competition for the top spot. At a Vancouver TED conference on 15^th of April, 2024, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis was asked about Stargate, the $100 billion collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI. Hassabis responded: "We don't talk about our specific numbers, but I think we are investing more than that over time." He added that Alphabet, the parent company of Google and DeepMind, has access to more computers, putting them in a better position than all of their competitors.

Hassabis then spent some time talking about AGI, the ambitious goal of creating AI with human or better-than-human intelligence. He revealed that when DeepMind joined Google in 2014, it was partly because Google could lend them its immense computing power. Using that power, Hassabis and DeepMind knew they could pursue AGI more effectively in the future. That future seems to have arrived, and Hassabis believes Google is best positioned to deliver it. Fellow DeepMind co-founder Shane Legg echoed similar sentiments months earlier, in December of 2023, where he said that there's a 50% chance we see AGI by 2028.