Google Chief, Sundar Pichai praises China’s role in AI and promises to add to Google’s workforce in China
The list of International delegates at the China Development Forum at Beijing, includes the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO, Sundar Pichai. Speaking at the Forum, Sundar Pichai revealed the company’s plans in China.
The Google chief not only praised China for its AI. Also revealed that he has plans for a bigger team in China.
Speaking at the forum he said, “China is already playing a big part in how AI will shape our futures.” Since the Chinese government supports AI research, Google has been pitching for AI in China since most of its services continue to be blocked in China such as Google Play, Drive, Gmail etc.
Google already has a team in China with an AI-lab in Beijing which conducts research. Speaking about the setting up of the Google AI Center In an announcement post, Fei-Fei Li, Chief Scientist, Cloud AI in December 2017 noted,
“Focused on basic AI research, the Center will consist of a team of AI researchers in Beijing, supported by Google China’s strong engineering teams. We’ve already hired some top experts, and will be working to build the team in the months ahead.”
The blog post also mentioned that besides publishing its own work, “the Google AI China Center will also support the AI research community by funding and sponsoring AI conferences and workshops, and working closely with the vibrant Chinese AI research community.”
Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc also signed a patent licensing agreement with Tencent Holding, a multinational investment conglomerate whose subsidiaries specialise in AI, internet related products and services and entertainment etc. The agreement is worth $500 million and allows both to jointly collaborate on various projects including AI, and other technologies.
Google definitely wants to tap into AI and especially on Chinese ground given that multiple services of the company still remained blocked. But through its lab and by increasing the number of employees there Google sure does hope to ride the AI wave with the Chinese and naturally look to tap into the latest developments in AI in China.