Alphabet, the parent of Google that pioneered self-driving cars and quantum computing, is making its biggest bet close to home: Internet search.
Applying artificial intelligence to the search business that has made Google a household name remains the company’s biggest challenge, Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s president and chief investment officer, said at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Tuesday.
“We meet people where they want to be next,” said Porat, in an interview with Reuters Senior Editor Alessandra Galloni.
Alphabet, which makes most of its $300 billion in annual revenue from search-related advertising, has deployed AI-generated overviews of questions with no obvious answers, in one example of its efforts.
The move follows rival ChatGPT maker OpenAI and has required Google to navigate tricky territory, where AI sometimes makes information out of so-called “negative ideas.”
Search will continue to evolve, said Porat, a former chief financial officer of Google and Alphabet. Google Cloud is another important investment, he said.
Twice diagnosed with breast cancer, Porat also pointed to Alphabet’s many efforts to improve health care.
He cited its pioneering of “AlphaFold,” an AI system that predicts the folding of proteins that the company uses in drug discovery through its Isomorphic Labs division. He said AI could protect eyesight for people at risk of losing it and free medical professionals from their screens to focus on care.
“It can bring humanity back to the doctor-patient relationship,” he said, expressing his doctor’s hopes.
Asked whether Alphabet’s investment in AI will follow industry trends, Porat said the technology represents a “common opportunity.” The company is on track to spend $50 billion on chips, data centers and other capital expenditures by 2024, it told analysts. But Alphabet will place its bets on the results.
“We have to make a profit,” he said.