He, however, said that it isn’t for geopolitical reasons alone that one needs to be safe and responsible with AI or any technology. For instance, he said that a technology like CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is important because of how powerful it can be and that the focus should be squarely on what can be done to get it right.
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CRISPR is a technology used by research scientists to selectively modify the DNA of living organisms. CRISPR was adapted for use in the laboratory from naturally occurring genome editing systems found in bacteria.
Generative AI was certainly one of the focus areas for the company at the I/O, which was clear with the number of announcements and the sheer volume of conversations surrounding the topic. But throughout, Pichai and other top executives of the company kept reiterating the need for ‘responsible AI.’ This was reflected even in the panel discussion that took place with select media on Thursday.
“We don’t want to be in a race, the only race we think about is getting it right,” Pichai said when asked about whether he was fazed by OpenAI and Microsoft’s head start in AI. “It’s (AI) a technology we are committed to boldly innovating, but all through it, approaching it with a deep sense of commitment to get it right responsibly.”
He added that AI is an incredibly profound technology that cuts across everything and he felt that one company, like Google, being the most successful across every sector is neither feasible nor is it right.
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“I think it’s (AI) a technology which will touch humanity in deeper ways. And I think it essentially needs to involve many, many stakeholders. There’s going to be a lot of these interesting things to trade off as we think about regulation, as we’ve always had. Safety is important. So you have to get regulation right.”
He believed that AI is going to be used in numerous areas, including well-established industries too which means there’s all the more reason for companies to ensure they get it right and strike the perfect balance of innovation and responsibility. He even batted for additional regulation in some critical areas.
“Healthcare is heavily regulated so AI is just an underlying technology. We would have to look at it on a case-by-case basis. There will be cases where there is additional regulation needed but I think it’s important to approach it with all the stakeholders and get it right.”
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With this in mind, Pichai said that he is excited about the role that Google can play in order to provide the most advanced computing infrastructure to anyone who wants it, including people who will compete with Google – and provide access to its foundation models that will also allow people to fine-tune it and build their own models.
“And finally, we will give high-level APIs so that you can build applications on top of it. So I think it’s an extraordinary opportunity and really very exciting,” he said.
(The reporter is at Mountain View at the invitation of Google)
