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Google is committing $ 20 million in hard cash and $ 2 million in swarm credits to a unexampled financial support initiative designed to help scientists and researchers unearth the next great scientific breakthrough using artificial intelligence ( AI ) .
The annunciation , made by Google DeepMind co - founder and CEODemis Hassabisduring a fireside chat at the closed - door AI for Science Forum in London today , feed into a broader push button by Big Tech to groom favor with immature pioneer and startups , a strategy that has includedacqui - hires , equity investments , andcloud partnerships — some of which hasattracted the attentionsof regulator .
This late announcement , via Google’s19 - year - oldphilanthropic armGoogle.org , is different in that it centre on non - equity financial support for pedantic and non - for - profit institutions globally . But like to other Big Tech funding and partnership initiatives , this will go some way of life toward helping Google ingratiate itself with some of the direct scientific minds , through direct cash injection and by providing infrastructure to power their projects . In turn , this positions Google well to acquire future customers — particularly those presently on the cusp of doing majuscule things , working on undertaking that need significant AI tooling and compute , which Google can provide .
Google is n’t alone in this feeler — just last week , Amazon ’s cloud leaderAWS harbinger $ 110 million in grants and creditsto lure AI researchers into its own ecosystem . Elsewhere , Google itself has made other similar commitment in the AI sphere of late , including a $ 20 million fundto support guess armoured combat vehicle and academic institutions building out their AI expertness , and asimilar - size of it store to run a generative AI gas programfor nonprofits .
Addressing complex problems
The one thing winning applicants should have in vulgar is that they will be using “ AI to accost progressively complex problem at the intersection of different disciplines of science , ” according to an accompanyingblog postfrom Maggie Johnson , Google VP and world-wide principal of Google.org ,
“ champaign such as rare and neglected disease research , experimental biology , materials science and sustainability all show hope , ” Johnson write .
In answer to some follow - up questions from TechCrunch , a Google voice said that they do n’t have a set target in term of the number of projects they ’re looking to finance . However , they stressed that they desire the funding to be “ significant enough to fire scientific breakthrough ” — this means it ’s not looking to pepper small pockets of cash far and wide-eyed . alternatively , it ’s likely to be disperse around no more than around 15 organizations , with plans to select the recipients and give out the funding by 2026 .
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It ’s deserving remark that it has been a big year for Google ’s AI whole DeepMind itself . Hassabis , one of DeepMind ’s three founders , wasawarded a knighthood for service to AIback in March . Then in October , Hassabis and DeepMind director John Jumper ( fancy together above)scooped one one-half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistryfor theirwork on AlphaFold , which has helped accelerate inquiry around drug discovery , name disease , and bioengineering .
This new fund fundamentally assay to build off that impulse .
“ I believe unreal intelligence will aid scientist and researchers achieve some of the greatest breakthroughs of our time , ” Hassabis said in a descent command supply to TechCrunch . “ We hope the launch of our $ 20 million fund will help oneself encourage further coaction between the individual and public sectors , kick - start renewed excitement for the power of AI and science , and inspire others to fall in us in funding this important work . ”
