Alphabet (GOOGL) Google is working on a new AI system that will help researchers speed up scientific and biomedical discoveries. The announcement comes as the tech giant seeks to leverage revolutionary technology to transform health outcomes. Additionally, it comes as the company rolls out improvements in health-related answers on Google search in AI overviews.
Google AI Healthcare Push
AI Overviews will cover thousands more health subjects and expand to other nations and languages to provide relevant answers to health queries. Additionally, Google is introducing a new search function dubbed “What others Suggest,” which it claims would provide customers access to data from others who have had comparable medical experiences.
The company also confirmed its collaboration with the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology to build an AI tool named Capricorn. According to Google, the tool can provide treatment choice summaries for kids with cancer using de-identified patient data and vast amounts of publicly available medical data.
Google has long sought to bring game-changing innovations to healthcare. However, concerns have always been about its search engine’s ability to provide high-quality medical information in actual healthcare environments reliably.
The recent updates coincide with Google’s apparent inability to focus its health-related initiatives and articulate a clear vision for its goals in the field during the previous few years. Alphabet employed hundreds of health-focused employees in the late 2010s. However, by 2021, the business had shut down its Google Health section and transferred workers who were developing health products to other departments.
Meta FuriosaAI Blow
Meanwhile, social networking giant Meta Platforms (META) suffered a significant blow in its bid to acquire chip startup FuriosaAI. The Korean company has turned down its $800 million takeover bid and wants to grow its business independently instead of merging with the US tech giant.
Meta has shown significant interest in FuriosaAI as it creates semiconductors for AI inferencing or services. Its second-generation processor, RNGD, is intended to compete with solutions from rival firms Groq Inc., SambaNova Systems Inc., and Cerebras Systems Inc., as well as market leader Nvidia Corp.
With roughly 150 workers, including 15 in its Silicon Valley headquarters, Furiosa is already offering samples of its chips to clients, including Saudi Aramco and LG AI Research, the AI division of the LG Group. Approximately a dozen clients participated in sampling during the first half of this year, and they are part of a more extensive pipeline.
Meta is making significant investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure to better compete in a rapidly evolving market. In January, CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared that Meta would invest up to $65 billion this year to construct a sizable data centre and hire more AI specialists. The investments are part of the company’s bid to enhance user experience in social networking apps and strengthen engagement levels to draw in more advertising budgets.
Additionally, Meta Platforms is developing its own chips for use in its own AI workloads, such as powering Facebook and Instagram ranking and recommendation ads. It debuted its first proprietary AI inference chips in 2023, unveiling an improved model last year.
