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    In 2016, shortly after Sundar Pichai became CEO of Google and Alphabet, he declared the company to be “AI-first,” signaling a pivot in strategy. Pichai’s vision was to reorient the company around AI, exemplified by the launch of Google Assistant, and the development of their large language model, LaMDA. To ensure responsible AI development, the company published its AI principles in June 2018. 

    Despite its early leadership in AI, Google found itself trailing competitors such as OpenAI in 2022, even as it leveraged technology pioneered by Google. In response, Google accelerated its AI initiatives, launching products like Bard and enhancing its search with AI capabilities.  In 2023, Google announced a $3bn investment in U.S. data centers dedicated to AI research and development. Additionally, in April 2023, it merged its DeepMind and Google Brain divisions to form Google DeepMind, as part of its effort to fast-track advancements in AI.

    2024 AI-related highlights

    • Introduces genAI into its search (May 2024)
    • Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold 3 advances drug discovery by predicting molecular interactions, accelerating treatment development globally. (May 2024)
    • Enhances AI tools with a faster Gemini chatbot, Project Astra, advanced search features, and powerful processing. (May 2024)
    • Google debuts Gemini 1.5 Pro with advanced summarization, multi-document analysis, and extensive context capabilities. (May 2024)
    • Launches Pixel 9 phones with advanced AI, replacing Google Assistant with Gemini as its default assistant (August 2024)
    • Google appoints Character.AI founder Noam Shazeer as Gemini AI model co-lead alongside Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals. (Aug 2024)
    • Google invests $1bn in Thailand, establishing a data center to expand AI and cloud services. (Sept 2024)
    • Google’s GameNGen AI simulates Doom gameplay at 20 FPS, opening possibilities for accessible game development. (Sept 2024)
    • Google partners with Kairos Power to use small nuclear reactors to meet the energy demands of its AI data centers, aiming for the first reactor by 2030 and further deployment by 2035. (Oct 2024)