Google DeepMind: Two High School Science Clubs Arm Wrestle
May 26, 2021
Not Fortnite vs Apple, not Spartans versus some people from the east, and definitely not Wladimir Klitschko fighting Deontay Wilder. Nope this dust up is Google Mountain View (the unit uses an icon of Jeff Dean as its identifier) against Google DeepMind (this science club uses an icon of a humiliated human Go master as its shibboleth).
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Mountain View Icon |
Deep Mind Icon |
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The Murdoch real news outfit published “”Google AI Unit Fails to Gain More Autonomy.” You can chase down the dead tree edition for May 22-23, 2021 or cough up some cash and read the report at this link. I noted this passage from the write up:
Senior managers at Google artificial-intelligence unit DeepMind have been negotiating for years with the parent company for more autonomy, seeking an independent legal structure for the sensitive research they do…Google called off those talks…The end of the long-running negotiations, which hasn’t previously been reported, is the latest example of how Google and other tech giants are trying to strengthen their control over the study and advancement of artificial intelligence.
The estimable Murdoch real news outfit notes:
Google bought the London-based startup for about $500 million. DeepMind has about 1,000 staff members, most of them researchers and engineers. In 2019, DeepMind’s pretax losses widened to £477 million, equivalent to about $660 million, according to the latest documents filed with the U.K.’s Companies House registry.
What are the stakes for the high school science club teams? A trophy or a demonstration of how bright people engaged in AI (whatever that means) manifest their software vision?
Several observations:
- Money losing gives the Mountain View team an advantage
- “Winning” in the mercurial field of smart software depends on the data fed into the algorithms. Humans – particularly science club members – can be somewhat subjective, unpredictable, and – dare I say the word – illogical
- The DeepMind science club team appears to value what might be called non-commercial thoughts about smart software. (Smart software, it seems, can be trained like a pigeon to perform in interesting ways, at least according to my psychology textbook which I studied a half century ago. Yep, pigeons. A powerful metaphor too.
This David versus Goliath fight is a facet of the fantastic management acumen demonstrated in the Mountain View handling of ethical AI staff. (Google’s power may have reached the US TV show which reported about AI “issues” without mentioning the standard bearer of algorithmic bias. Does the name Dr. Timnit Gebru sound familiar? It apparently did not to the “60 Minutes” producer.
Net net: Both science club teams are likely to be losers. The victor may be dissenting staff who quit and write about the Google’s scintillating management methods. I expect some start ups to emerge from the staff departures. Venture funds like opportunities. I do like the icons for each team. Are their coffee mugs and T shirts available?
This intra AI tussle may not amount to anything, right?
Stephen E Arnold, May 26, 2021
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