Sometimes it feels like Google is omnipotent, doesn’t it? With their huge percentage of the search engine share, they ARE omnipotent in a way. They scan the entire web, handing out rewards and brutal punishments alike, but they have always had a weakness: limited man power and an always imperfect algorithm. Sure, the algorithms get better every year, but the best algorithms in the world still can’t tell spam from quality content the same way as a human being…or can they?
Google has decided that they’d like to try to push their algorithms to the next level, and has acquired the artificial intelligence company DeepMind to help them accomplish that goal. Yesterday, they dropped over 400 million dollars on the London-centered AI company, and according to anonymous sources from within the company, DeepMind is going to be working on search. Here is what they had to say:
Or as search is known at Google today, the “Knowledge” group, so-called because it no longer just finds keywords on Web pages, but instead connects larger concepts. Knowledge is led by Google SVP Alan Eustace, but DeepMind will work closely with a team led by Jeff Dean, a near 15-year Google veteran, best known for his work on distributed systems.
Google was quiet about the deal, but Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, had this to say:
“We’re really excited to be joining Google. This partnership will allow us to turbo-charge our mission to harness the power of machine learning tools to tackle some of society’s toughest problems, and help make our everyday lives more productive and enjoyable,” he said. “We’ve built a world-leading team here in the UK and we’re looking forward to accelerating the impact of our technology with Google.”
It is still unknown exactly what this deal will mean, but like I said at the beginning of this post, smart money is on taking the Google search algorithm to the next level.
Tremble with fear blackhat SEOs!