Google DeepMind CEO, Demis Hassabis, said that over time the search engine giant will spend over $100bn developing AI technology as investment in the emerging technology increases exponentially.
Speaking at a TED conference on Monday (15 April), Hassabis said he believed Google would invest more than Microsoft and OpenAI’s planned $100bn AI supercomputer.
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“We don’t talk about our specific numbers, but I think we’re investing more than that over time,” Hassabis said in response to a question about the supercomputer.
The CEO, who co-founded DeepMind in 2010 before it was acquired by Google in 2014, also claimed that Alphabet had more powerful AI computing than rivals like Microsoft.
“That’s one of the reasons we teamed up with Google back in 2014, is we knew that in order to get to AGI we would need a lot of compute,” he added.
Hassabis was referring to artificial general intelligence, a controversial goal of AI developers that refers to an AI that is more powerful than humans.
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By GlobalDataGoogle still has the most computers compared to its rivals, Hassabis added.
The comments from Hassabis follow reports that Google is considering charging for new premium GenAI features, which would mark the first time the search engine giant has put any of its core products behind a paywall.
Engineers are reportedly working on developing the technology but are undecided on whether or when to launch it.
Google’s main search engine will remain free and ads will continue to be shown alongside search results even for paying customers, according to the Financial Times.
“We are continuing to rapidly improve the product to serve new user needs,” a Google spokesperson said at the time.
Microsoft and OpenAI’s StarGate supercomputer
The Information reported, at the end of March, that Microsoft and OpenAI were working on plans for a data centre project that could cost up to $100bn, which will also include an AI supercomputer called Stargate set to launch in 2028.
It comes as the demand for GenAI has forced an unprecedented need for larger data centres capable of handling more powerful work loads.
The supercomputer would mark the biggest in a series of computers the companies are looking to build over the next six years, according to the report.
GlobalData forecasts that the overall AI market will be worth $909bn by 2030, registering a compound annual growth rate (GAGR) of 35% between 2022 and 2030.
In the GenAI space, revenues are expected to grow from $1.8bn in 2022 to $33bn in 2027 at a CAGR of 80%.
