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People forget that Larry Page's ultimate goal was to have Google predict what you wanted before you even asked for it. This isn't about hype. This isn't about b
by asim 4y ago
People forget that Larry Page's ultimate goal was to have Google predict what you wanted before you even asked for it. This isn't about hype. This isn't about beating the competition. This is about delivering on a 3 decade dream that's now coming to fruition and Sundar just happens to be the one leading the org as it manifests in the real world. We're going to end up with 10+ vertically integrated AI solutions like this. Google will be core infrastructure for the world and this thing will be an assistant to everyone who buys into the Google ecosystem.
- ekanes 4y agoMeh. Enthusiasm about Larry Page's ultimate goals and dreams went out the window right about the time don't be evil went out the window.
- rchaud 4y agoAt this point in SV history, harkening back to what a founder said as an anonymous PhD in his pre-billionaire 20s, sounds a lot like when people talk about "what the Founding Fathers wanted". Nothing is set in stone, and the world is very different from the Web 1.0 era in which Google formed.
- makeitdouble 4y agoYour comment and parent’s look aligned to me. He’s saying it went down the drain, and you posit things do change and we shouldn’t expect current Google to be aiming at benevolence and ethicality.
- pleadthefifth 4y agoI think Google was always "evil" however you define that. The plan from the start was to focus on the product, build the brand, and eventually switch to monetization mode like they are now. That's what the slogan meant, think long-term. The founders still own >50% and make decisions, but the employees still act like Larry and Sergey are some founding fathers spinning in their graves. "_____ wouldn't have happened under them," oh yes it would, and it did.
- lstodd 4y agoThis "core inrastructure for the world" wıll also be maintained about as well as HVAC in the seminal film Brazil
- roody15 4y agoImagine a government controlled AI that partners with mega corporations to "assist" AI in getting you the "correct" results you desire. Call me a pessimist but we may already be staring down the gun of a dystopian future
- lstodd 4y ago[flagged]
- serf 4y ago>Ye, u got a brain no? Go learn some hıstory. artificial intelligence as a concept is at least as old as 300-400BC. Government corruption as a meme goes much further back. I wouldn't be so quick to consider someone 'without brain' for having inadequate movie trivia knowledge; nor would I consider encyclopedic knowledge of movie trivia to be evidence of knowing history. I don't know where the 'bureaucratic to a fault' concept of Brazil was first used, but similarly metaphors and complaints can be found in lots of Roman historical anecdote, many times older. These concepts have all been explored in fiction to a huge degree, the novelty of what's going on right now is that it's been the first time where any of it has actually approached reality. The concept of a government 'on autopilot' is now actually being realistically considered, rather than humorously/dramatically fantasized. It's now becoming apparent to the public at large that such concepts are stepping out of fiction; that's huge. tldr; don't fault other people for not knowing about the recent revision of ancient ideas and concepts that YOU prefer to discuss.
- lstodd 4y agoI do fault people for not knowing shit that was screaming in their faces for at least a hundred years and an half. I do fault them for ignoring it since it's about they did understand that this is what was going on. Do not attempt to whitewash persons as some anonymous 'members of public'. A decision to not think is a decision none the less.
- theropost 4y agoI'd love for this to be true. I bought into the Google ecosystem in a huge way, but it seems like they have been more focused on the data collection, and advertising end of things, rather than the innovation, and productivity enablement one. Their ecosystem has consitently been a let down in many regards, and they have lost a lot of forward momentum. I hope they can super charge this stuff, but I feel their corporate structure/environment is their biggest hurdle at this point. They have capable people, and brilliant minds, but the structure of the organization, and them being beholden to their market/shareholders gives them little room to innovate in these areas. Hopefully the prove me wrong.
- layer8 4y agoHaving all humans as the target audience means that it will always be more profitable to make users the product instead of making them the customer. This in turn means that incentives are not geared towards being in the interest of the user.
- btown 4y agoOne thing's for sure - it's much easier to quantitatively define an OKR for growing advertising mindshare (especially when you operate the exchanges that measure that mindshare!), than it is to, say, define an OKR for how a project loosely contributes to Google leading the mindshare in the movement towards generative AI outputs as they redefine practically every job in the world. And I'm certain that however much Google historically stressed that OKRs aren't tied to performance reviews, there's a lot of fear that deviating from OKRs could trigger one being on the top of the list for the next round of layoffs. So there are definitely headwinds that could stifle experimentation and innovation in such a brave new world. For Google's sake I hope that top leadership is redoubling its efforts to get buy-in up and down the management chain for redesigning structures to allow innovation to take place.
- JPKab 4y agoSo gross, and so true. I get bouts of nausea every time I hear "OKR" now.
- 4y ago
- gchokov 4y agoSundar did nothing but failed projects. Google is still where it was many years ago.
- pphysch 4y agoMy Google phone can instantly translate almost any foreign language, embedded in an image, without an internet connection. Pretty sure that was not a thing 8 years ago. If/when Google embeds an (local and/or lightweight) Bard model into every Pixel phone, that will be a game-changer.
- gchokov 4y agoThat was a feature of google translate many years ago. Absolutely nothing new.
- ROTMetro 4y agoAnd was came from a purchase of Word Lens not something in house if I remember right.
- pleadthefifth 4y agoWhile cool, that's a feature, not a product. Sundar has not led the company on any new products that have succeeded. The chat apps failed, Meet/Hangouts/whatever lost to Zoom, Stadia got cancelled, etc. All their current cash cows made their names before him. At least he didn't oversee the introduction of Google Plus, though.
- thehappypm 4y agoHe’s leading Google Cloud to strong growth, which is more important than something niche but innovative like Stadia.
- htrp 4y agoTechnically they poached Thomas Kurian from Oracle for that.....
- par 4y agoMeh, lot's of corporations have had all kinds of outlandish visions. I don't think this one is any more or less aligned with any other vision statement from 20+ years ago. They're just capitalizing on the technology that's available at the time, like any good company should be doing.
- criddell 4y agoMaybe the way Google will know what you want before you ask for it is by showing you ads to manufacture demand. Google wants to serve you . to ad buyers.
- wiz21c 4y agoConsidering what ChatGPT does with internet knowledge, I'm scared to have it trained on my internet history of clicks... It will be massively dangerous and totally centralized in so few hands...
- sekai 4y ago> Google will be core infrastructure for the world and this thing will be an assistant to everyone who buys into the Google ecosystem Pretty optimistic, considering things Google "delivered" in the past 5 to 10 years.
- Eduard 4y ago[flagged]
- jug 4y agoSounds amazing indeed but so far I see no indication of it going to happen at Google. I think the Google ecosystem, at least as it appears to regular consumers, is in a poor and frozen state ever since Google+ failed. YouTube is YouTube as usual, Gmail feels like ten years ago, and Google Docs etc. is as it was five years ago. Even Google Maps doesn’t amaze me, following its long period of innovations. I fondly look back at the times Google went where no man had gone before.
- progx 4y agoAnd how will they make money?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- asdfasxcdf 4y agoI cannot help but laugh at this comment. I bet this is what Google corporate tells its employees in orientation and All hands meetings.