By Miguel Helft
View Sundar Pichai of Google these days is not what it used to be. Not long ago was a product manager, then became vice president in charge of meet you upon arrival at the Googleplex and who would sit with you and talk to one of the dozens of rooms anodyne together.
Now, after living one of the ascents more rapid in the history of the corporate ladder, Pichai is CEO. When you get to your office, a security guard opens the door and asks what is offered to you, then you escorted to another building, about 30 meters away, where you receive a printed nametag on a connected kiosk.
Only then you can take your way to building Pichai, along with your assigned chaperones. Go through a series of doors and climb stairs to get to a suite which is huge, and on a recent afternoon, somewhat desolate.
There is another security guard sitting behind a desk and the other side of a glass wall, two lists what is needed for assistants. The rest of the executive suite is empty, there is a large area with sofas and armchairs, and a pair of narrow conference with identical chairs carefully aligned around a long rectangular tables.
The broad but unimpressive Pichai office is located behind the two assistants. It is a standard feature of Silicon Valley, a modern desk, a sofa and a couple of chairs around a coffee table, some goodies and a glass wall that allows you to see the tops of some trees.
But Pichai seems to have changed: it remains undisturbed, discreet and courteous. We are five days before he takes the stage of the annual conference for developers of your company, Google I / O, its biggest public event.
It will be the first I / O Pichai since becoming CEO last year, when Larry Page reorganized the company in Alphabet. And it is the first to be held at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, a stage for rock concerts meters from the office of Pichai, rather than in some solemn headquarters in San Francisco, as in past years.
“I wanted to create a sense of community, it was more informal, closer to how Google make it work every day,” says Pichai.
Speaking softly with his southern accent India Pichai Parries dodges questions with his characteristic calm and poise. He is not a strident man. So his excitement about what Google presented -in which the company is convirtiendo- is masked by its long, sinuous and thoughtful responses, always rich in context of the evolution of computing, Google history and what users expected.
amid all this, it is elegant enough to recognize the progress of rivals like Amazon, whose intelligent horn Echo is defined by him as an “exciting new category” of products.
Those are probably good traits to have now that Pichai is about to bring Google into uncharted waters. The company started and reached a phenomenal success in the Internet era of the PC, and after much uncertainty navigated the transition to mobile successfully. Now we may be about to witness what could be another major shift in computing, which could dent the power of applications and make our interactions with digital services more, well, interactive.
his rivals like Microsoft and Facebook have been promoting bots, mini-applications that insert themselves intelligently in our conversations to help us complete tasks -Buy a ticket, book a hotel, order a pizza.
Meanwhile many experts predict that some desktop messaging replace our computers, our mobile screens and incuso our social networks as the main “platform” for the consumption of digital content and services. In other words, the mobile era may not be over, but it is rapidly becoming something different.
Pichai want to put your own stamp on that transformation, and is one that will radically change the way over 1,000 million people worldwide interact with the main service of Google, the search. If the search 1.0 was the original batch of 10 blue links, and search 2.0 (and 2.1 and 2.2, etc.) and later mixed news, images, video, business information and cards on millions of people, companies and things Pichai is preparing to file search 3.0.
the next generation of search is built around what the company calls the Google assistant (with lowercase “a”), an interface conversation google which at first glance looks very much like what Facebook and Microsoft have mentioned earlier this year. But Pichai says that, unlike its rivals, whose systems rely heavily on robots third, much of the conversation he imagines will be between you and Google (with time third-party software will play an occasional role and perhaps increasingly frequent).
“for us, this is an evolution of Google,” he says. “People have been asking things Google all the time, so the question is: how can we do better?” The answer: artificial intelligence and machine learning, information technology areas that are mostly rumors, but in the Google has been working for more than a decade.
Pichai is ready to take the fruits of that effort is with-and speech recognition, machine translation, natural language understanding, computer vision and other areas- the assistant Google and, eventually, to almost every corner of the Google empire. “We have this vision of a change in the mobile is the center to one in which the IA is,” says Pichai, using the abbreviation for artificial intelligence and taking up the theme of the Charter of the Founders, the annual letter of the company .
A ‘wizard’ of Google that takes many forms
The word “assistant” in Google assistant starts with tiny as it is not in itself a product. It’s a way to talk and interact with Google. It will acquire different ways on different devices and different contexts. It is something already familiar who have spoken the words “OK Google” to their Android phones. (Pichai said that up to 20% of consultations on Android these days come via voice.)
However, two forms of interaction with the assistant Google get have received most of the attention this week because they are linked to two completely new products: Google Home, a voice-controlled intelligent speaker is Google’s version of Echo Amazon; and Allo, a new intelligent messaging app. Both will be available later this year
Pichai seems ready for the inevitable reaction to generate their ads. They seem less important advances in innovative technology and more created in response to the innovation of someone products more who they have to catch up. His answer: It’s all in the execution. “We think we have achieved unique strengths,” says Pichai. Convince users that this is true is likely to be a long journey. Pichai said that the simple conversational interactions for example ordering a pizza or book a trip- are not so difficult to program, but Google’s ability to gather years of AI research allow to be much deeper. “We’ve been building these incredible capabilities: search, image recognition, our natural language understanding, speech recognition, translation,” says
“Particularly in the last three years we thought that with. machine learning and artificial intelligence can do these things better than ever. Both areas are progressing at an incredible pace. “In other words, in a world where AI will be the first, the one with the best IA will win
This is how Pichai see an interaction with Google assistant.
“you can say ‘Google, what’s in theaters today?’ and with speech recognition and language processing today understand that you mean a cinema. You can imagine going a step further with time. If I make that question a Friday, to better understand the context and whether you intend to see something with your family, the wizard could say, ‘ The Jungle Book a good idea?’ Then you ask if you want tickets. Then the next day, you could take your phone and Google will remind you missing a few hours for the function and show your tickets on the screen. “
And as AI improves, interaction also will.
Google was not willing to do a demonstration of Google Home before his public presentation at I / O. However, much of the deeper insight into the IA is evident in Allo. The application, which uses phone numbers as identifiers, is quick and includes sweets such as “smart” graphics “stickers” that Google commissioned independent artists.
Even more interesting, Allo integrated responses, Google he presented by first time in his email Inbox app last year. The intelligent response is a function that suggests three different pre-written responses to a message from which the user can select and send with a tap. It’s especially useful in mobile, and requires that Google understands the meaning of the incoming message. With engine technology natural language processing company, intelligent response has become increasingly sophisticated, even recognizing nuances such as the irony in a phrase and suggesting appropriate responses.
Allo, Google he has gone a step further in Inbox, mixing the intelligent response with image recognition. As a result, the app can analyze a photographic message and suggest answers. If a friend sends you a photo parachuting, offer intelligent response “amazing”, “incredible” or “what fear”. If you send a photo of one of the puppies of your children might suggest “how cute”. With Allo, users can also invoke directly to Google assistant to ask a question verbally or via text. Users will also be able to invoke the wizard in the middle of a conversation with another person, for example, to help book a restaurant
The launch of Allo highlights an uncomfortable reality for Google. Unlike many of its rivals, has no messaging product with massive success. Sure, it’s Gmail, which has more than 1,000 million monthly active users, and Hangouts, which has a smaller number of users which has never been revelators. But rivals like Snapchat and especially Facebook have attracted mass audiences with modern messaging tools such as Messenger and WhatsApp.
Pichai said that many of the products of Google, as the search engine or Chrome browser, They were released in highly competitive and mature markets. Google succeeded because their products were better, and expected to follow the same path Allo. “We launched Photoes in I / O last year,” says Pichai. “We have 200 million users. That’s a remarkable growth. It is an organic growth, word of mouth. We have earned. Not everything works that way, but we aspire to that. “(Of course, there are examples, like Google Plus, where things do not work the same.)
As with all of Google, the product it is first and monetization can come later. “We have always thought that if we meet the information needs of users, many of those needs are of a commercial nature. When information needs are trademarks, connect users with people they serve, then I think there are natural opportunities there, “says Pichai.
artificial intelligence and machine learning everywhere
The decision to build Google assistant problem arose within Google. In recent years, Google has incorporated features silent conversation in your search engine. But even for those who make their queries through voice commands with “OK Google” ( “Hey Google” works well), the search engine company meant something else. “The Google search is a powerful icon in the world,” says Scott Huffman, vice president of engineering at Google hunt group. “There are very high expectations among users but also for them has been very difficult to understand that now the search box can also do all these things for assistance.”
Although Allo and Google Home could help overcome google search box, Pichai sees as a first step in a radical transformation of computing and google itself. Gradually the Google assistant will not only be smarter, but would open way to all kinds of products and services. In other words, the IA will be everywhere.
“Historically, we have been focused largely on the devices,” says Pichai. “To me it makes sense that the computer is in the context of what you’re doing, ready to help you.” In your car, you will be able to have a conversation with Google assistant for directions to somewhere or listening to music; in front of your television, you ask about available programs or movies (Google Home is able to control the CC and CC Audio systems); and increasingly, you will make your daily life activities and assistant appears to help Google. A week left for Mother’s Day? Google may suggest shopping. “What matters most to me, as a user, you have an intelligent experience. Try to go on with your day, and in a natural way, things are there to help. Be able to do that because there are smarter devices, and are there to help in that context, “says Pichai.
Do not expect this to happen in the overnight. If integrate the search was a big computer problem, build a wizard is much more. “Ten years ago we could click on a link and it was,” says Pichai. “Today, to help you do things, if we get you movie tickets or a reservation at a restaurant, we have to go a step further. In all its dimensions, it is more ambitious. “
Pichai’s ambition, his vision for a world in which the IA is the first, is much higher. Although Google wizard gathers years of investment in machine learning and intelligent algorithms, the company is also investing heavily in long-term problems. His DeepMind group, for example, recently created AlphaGo, software that beat the best Go player in the world. AlphaGo has no immediate practical applications beyond winning in Go, but its algorithms are likely to become the basis for future developments.
“When we see the machine learning and AI, there are things we can do now some will have to wait for 2 to 3 years and some that are deeper and take longer, “says Pichai.
” with DeepMind and even with some of our internal teams, we are focused on AI for the long term. “One of the internal teams, only six or seven engineers, applied algorithms machine learning for detection of diabetic retinopathy, a disease that is treatable when caught early, but can cause blindness when it goes unnoticed. “With the use of machine learning-based tools, doctors can diagnose much much,” says Pichai. “It will take time. It has to be worked out, but it is a sample of the potential applications of AI and machine learning in different areas. The power of these technologies is incredible. “
This kind of optimism makes Pichai squarely in the camp of those who believe that AI is a force for good and uncontrollable not a power that could lead to a dystopian future, as some critics have warned. He says that as long as technologists “reflect” on its development, the IA will improve the lives of people. “I think AI will be there to improve and help people, and if you approach it that way, I think it will be incredibly useful,” says Pichai.
That explains, in part, the Pichai reason wants to boost the capabilities of AI Google beyond the confines of the company itself. Eventually, it plans to make available most of machine learning algorithms of Google users in your cloud services, to apply them in their fields. “Imagine all types of problems that many teams around the world are working to be able to harness and apply machine learning and AI to their problems,” he says. “This scale is what really excites me, either in fields such as health, financial services, education, the way we teach people, creating climate models.” He adds: “I think it’s a great opportunity . “
No comments:
Post a Comment