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Can anyone please explain to me why does Google need to buy companies like Anthropic when they already have DeepMind and Google Brain? I thought they were Googl

Can anyone please explain to me why does Google need to buy companies like Anthropic when they already have DeepMind and Google Brain? I thought they were Google's AI spearhead. To me it seems like Google isn't lacking internal ML talent, but more like it's lacking management, direction, vision and focus in the ML space. Buying more companies while staying fragmented and directionless won't necessarily give them a win.

ur-whale 4y ago
> Can anyone please explain Talent acquisition. Also : Deepmind is based in the UK and does whatever the F*CK they want inside Google instead of actually contributing to Google's bottom line.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  >Deepmind is based in the UK DeepMind isn't UK exclusive. Ian Goodfellow works there as well from the Bay Area, AFAIK. >does whatever the F*CK they want inside Google instead of contributing to Google's bottom line And that seems like the bigger problem with Google, not the lack of proper talent, which I also raised in my argument. You can't successfully steer a ship when everyone runs amuck doing whatever they want. Making the ship larger won't fix this.
- astrange 4y ago
  > Also : Deepmind is based in the UK and does whatever the F*CK they want inside Google instead of actually contributing to Google's bottom line. Sure, but that's what everyone does at Google. They don't hire engineers to make money, they hire them because Brin and Page enjoy keeping engineers around like pets.
  - ur-whale 4y ago
    > because Brin and Page enjoy keeping engineers around like pets. Funny, but inaccurate. First, Brin has stopped giving a damn about Google a very long time ago to go and enjoy his life. I suspect from around the time of the "China incident" where both he and Page realized that having ethical positions at the scale Google had reached back then was just not possible anymore. Second, Page held on for a while longer, but eventually followed Brin in not giving two f*cks any more and just enjoying their billions. Page then proceeded to pick the most milquetoast personality in his entourage as his successor (Sundar Pichai), probably because he thought he was the candidate most likely to inflict the least amount of damage with the mighty thing he was handing over (by doing nothing with it). No, I think the explanation is very simple: Google believes that acquiring top talent is the path to further success. They're correct but fail to see that it is only a tiny first step on a very long road. Namely: once you've got the talent, you must: a. Not spoil them rotten by throwing oodles of money at them b. Direct them towards worthy goals c. Focus on execution by actually *managing* them d. Not allow them to play the "hire me for 3M USD a year, I'm an AI diva" musical chair games and actually deliver tangible value. These days, Google is simply incapable of these four things.
daydream 4y ago
> Can anyone please explain to me why does Google need to buy companies like Anthropic when they already have DeepMind and Google Brain? Same reason they have both DeepMind and Google Brain. (I’m guessing)
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  Did any of those acquisitions result in successful Google products, or did Google just buy them so none of their competitors would?
  - 0XYZxyzXYZ0 4y ago
    Seems like the second option to me. I think WaveNet has been integrated into many Google products. Then, Deepmind invested quite a lot in RL-research, with not much real-world use case. And now they are having a major pivot towards LLMs (see their job openings), although apparently 'sparrow' is supposed to be better than GPT-3.
college_physics 4y ago
It has been indicated already in other comments. To have one competitor is bad. To have two is worse.
visarga 4y ago
> Can anyone please explain to me why does Google need to buy companies like Anthropic Because Anthropic is a splinter group from OpenAI, who are Google's #1 rivals. Anthropic was founded by Dario Amodei, who was the VP of Research at OpenAI and previously led the GPT-3 project. They are buying GPT-3 rivals.
- throw_pm23 4y ago
  You conveniently left out that they were also funded by Sam Bankman-Fried.
bsenftner 4y ago
> To me it seems like Google isn't lacking internal ML talent, but more like it's lacking management, direction, vision and focus in the ML space. Ding! Ding! Ding! Give that man the prize, he guessed the winning answer!
freediver 4y ago
This is a tactical deal between Google Cloud and Anthropic. Google Clouds invests in the business but Anthropic in turn has to use GCP resources. It appears to be more of a business expansion for GCP than a stratigic investment into an AI team.

ur-whale 4y ago

> Can anyone please explain Talent acquisition. Also : Deepmind is based in the UK and does whatever the F*CK they want inside Google instead of actually contributing to Google's bottom line.

ChuckNorris89 4y ago
>Deepmind is based in the UK DeepMind isn't UK exclusive. Ian Goodfellow works there as well from the Bay Area, AFAIK. >does whatever the F*CK they want inside Google instead of contributing to Google's bottom line And that seems like the bigger problem with Google, not the lack of proper talent, which I also raised in my argument. You can't successfully steer a ship when everyone runs amuck doing whatever they want. Making the ship larger won't fix this.
astrange 4y ago
> Also : Deepmind is based in the UK and does whatever the F*CK they want inside Google instead of actually contributing to Google's bottom line. Sure, but that's what everyone does at Google. They don't hire engineers to make money, they hire them because Brin and Page enjoy keeping engineers around like pets.
- ur-whale 4y ago
  > because Brin and Page enjoy keeping engineers around like pets. Funny, but inaccurate. First, Brin has stopped giving a damn about Google a very long time ago to go and enjoy his life. I suspect from around the time of the "China incident" where both he and Page realized that having ethical positions at the scale Google had reached back then was just not possible anymore. Second, Page held on for a while longer, but eventually followed Brin in not giving two f*cks any more and just enjoying their billions. Page then proceeded to pick the most milquetoast personality in his entourage as his successor (Sundar Pichai), probably because he thought he was the candidate most likely to inflict the least amount of damage with the mighty thing he was handing over (by doing nothing with it). No, I think the explanation is very simple: Google believes that acquiring top talent is the path to further success. They're correct but fail to see that it is only a tiny first step on a very long road. Namely: once you've got the talent, you must: a. Not spoil them rotten by throwing oodles of money at them b. Direct them towards worthy goals c. Focus on execution by actually *managing* them d. Not allow them to play the "hire me for 3M USD a year, I'm an AI diva" musical chair games and actually deliver tangible value. These days, Google is simply incapable of these four things.

daydream 4y ago

> Can anyone please explain to me why does Google need to buy companies like Anthropic when they already have DeepMind and Google Brain? Same reason they have both DeepMind and Google Brain. (I’m guessing)

ChuckNorris89 4y ago
Did any of those acquisitions result in successful Google products, or did Google just buy them so none of their competitors would?
- 0XYZxyzXYZ0 4y ago
  Seems like the second option to me. I think WaveNet has been integrated into many Google products. Then, Deepmind invested quite a lot in RL-research, with not much real-world use case. And now they are having a major pivot towards LLMs (see their job openings), although apparently 'sparrow' is supposed to be better than GPT-3.

college_physics 4y ago

It has been indicated already in other comments. To have one competitor is bad. To have two is worse.

visarga 4y ago

> Can anyone please explain to me why does Google need to buy companies like Anthropic Because Anthropic is a splinter group from OpenAI, who are Google's #1 rivals. Anthropic was founded by Dario Amodei, who was the VP of Research at OpenAI and previously led the GPT-3 project. They are buying GPT-3 rivals.

throw_pm23 4y ago
You conveniently left out that they were also funded by Sam Bankman-Fried.

bsenftner 4y ago

> To me it seems like Google isn't lacking internal ML talent, but more like it's lacking management, direction, vision and focus in the ML space. Ding! Ding! Ding! Give that man the prize, he guessed the winning answer!

freediver 4y ago

This is a tactical deal between Google Cloud and Anthropic. Google Clouds invests in the business but Anthropic in turn has to use GCP resources. It appears to be more of a business expansion for GCP than a stratigic investment into an AI team.