On Thursday, Google and Alphabet CEOs Sundar Pichai announced an internal organizational restructuring of the company to improve speed and execution to develop artificial intelligence products and services.

Expand DeepMind

Firstly, it is necessary to further expand Google's artificial intelligence department, DeepMind.

Last year, Google merged Brain and DeepMind in its artificial intelligence research group to form a new super unit (named DeepMind), focusing on building artificial intelligence models. Now this team has further expanded.

Pichai stated that in order to accelerate the development of Google's artificial intelligence models (Gemini and Gemma), Google Research will be integrated into DeepMind.

Pichai stated that this move "will simplify development by concentrating compute-intensive model building in one place and establishing single access points for PAs looking to take these models and build generative AI applications." He further stated that "This change also gives Google Research a clear and distinct mandate to continue investing in foundational and applied computer science research in three key areas that tie directly to Google’s mission: computing systems (including quantum), foundational ML and algorithms, and applied science and society."

In addition, the research team of the entire enterprise's Responsible AI will also be transferred to DeepMind, "to be closer to the construction and expansion of the model."

Google stated that as the company has invested more funds in artificial intelligence testing and evaluation, other ResponsibleAI team members will be transferred to Google's central Trust and Safety team.

Pichai stated that the adjustment of Responsible AI "create clearer responsibility and accountability at every level as we build and deploy, and strengthen the feedback loop between models, products, and users."

In addition, Pichai also revealed that the company has made good progress in improving processes internally, including standardizing the release requirements of artificial intelligence functions and increasing investment in "red team" vulnerability testing and broader evaluations.

Integrate Android and Hardware Teams

In addition to expanding DeepMind, Pichai also announced the establishment of a new team called Platforms&Devices, responsible for overseeing all Google Pixel products, including Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos, and more.

The Google Research team, which focuses on computational photography and device intelligence, will also join the new team, "bring deep AI expertise across platforms and devices"

Pichai believes that forming a new team will help enhance the Android and Chrome ecosystems internally, while also accelerating decision-making speed.

The new team will be led by Rick Osterloh, who previously served as Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, responsible for overseeing all hardware work at Google.

Google has always deliberately separated its hardware business from its Android ecosystem business, in order to prevent its devices from enjoying privileges or complicating relationships with partner companies such as Samsung. However, in the past two years, this situation has changed. Now Google is more inclined to create excellent devices and showcase more new features in its Android ecosystem.

In an interview, Ostro stated that by merging teams, Google can now integrate artificial intelligence into all of its products faster."Integrating teams helps us innovate in a full stack manner when necessary," Ostro said. "I believe that the integration of hardware/software/artificial intelligence truly demonstrates how artificial intelligence can fundamentally change user experience. This is important, and even more so today."

At the end of the relevant restructuring announcement, Pichai stated that the aforementioned restructuring "will help us work with greater focus and clarity towards our mission."

Pichai also mentioned in the announcement that employees protested this week against the Nimbus project, a $1.2 billion joint contract signed between Google and Amazon aimed at providing artificial intelligence and cloud services to the Israeli government and military. Google fired 28 employees who participated in the protest on Wednesday.

"We have a culture of vibrant, open discussion that enables us to create amazing products and turn great ideas into action. That's important to preserve," Pichai wrote. "But ultimately we are a workplace and our policies and expectations are clear: this is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics. This is too important a moment as a company for us to be distracted."