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DeepMind wouldn’t have happened to the level it did had google been broken up prior.

asdff 2y ago
What might deep mind have looked like today if it were given the same resources in an academic or national lab setting and no ultimate profit motive?
- mensetmanusman 2y ago
  Sans access to the worlds top supercomputer infra.
  - asdff 2y ago
    Used to be the worlds top supercomputer infra was in national labs or such places and not private companies. Some of the largest are still there. In my hypothetical that would be the case "assuming same resources."
    - mensetmanusman 2y ago
      Governments can not compete on infra with trillion dollar computer companies.
      - asdff 2y ago
        DOE has the #1 and #2 most powerful supercomputers in the world today
- iepathos 2y ago
  For some perspective here, The US spends ~$90b on all higher education institution research combined each year with over half of that funding coming from the government. The 42 federally funded national research labs only had something like $29.3b spent on R&D in 2023 and only a portion of that is allowed to be spent on non-weapons research. Google alone is spending over $100b on just deep mind R&D this year. So, all academia and all the federally funded research labs would have to have agreed to stop working on anything else to pool enough resources together to provide equivalent support for deep mind. This would've required many government officials and entities to have the foresight to see the potential impact of deep mind and be willing to sacrifice all the other interests they have asking for funding. imo if federal government were funding deep mind this significantly in this alternate timeline it would be focused towards weapons research and wartime applications cause over half of the national labs funding is spent on weapons R&D.
giobox 2y ago
There was no shortage of other deep-pocketed suitors trying to buy DeepMind too during the Google acquisition back in 2014 - I think DeepMind would have likely found a reasonable home regardless.
- creato 2y ago
  Are those other deep-pocketed suitors not under antitrust scrutiny themselves at the moment? Maybe they would be first in the firing line of the DoJ if they had bought DeepMind instead?
- Jyaif 2y ago
  Among the big tech companies, only Google cared about AI at the time.
- mensetmanusman 2y ago
  I just bring this up as a reminder that the government did kill Bell Labs by breaking up a trust. There are pros and cons to every corporation system.

What might deep mind have looked like today if it were given the same resources in an academic or national lab setting and no ultimate profit motive?

mensetmanusman 2y ago
Sans access to the worlds top supercomputer infra.
- asdff 2y ago
  Used to be the worlds top supercomputer infra was in national labs or such places and not private companies. Some of the largest are still there. In my hypothetical that would be the case "assuming same resources."
  - mensetmanusman 2y ago
    Governments can not compete on infra with trillion dollar computer companies.
    - asdff 2y ago
      DOE has the #1 and #2 most powerful supercomputers in the world today
iepathos 2y ago
For some perspective here, The US spends ~$90b on all higher education institution research combined each year with over half of that funding coming from the government. The 42 federally funded national research labs only had something like $29.3b spent on R&D in 2023 and only a portion of that is allowed to be spent on non-weapons research. Google alone is spending over $100b on just deep mind R&D this year. So, all academia and all the federally funded research labs would have to have agreed to stop working on anything else to pool enough resources together to provide equivalent support for deep mind. This would've required many government officials and entities to have the foresight to see the potential impact of deep mind and be willing to sacrifice all the other interests they have asking for funding. imo if federal government were funding deep mind this significantly in this alternate timeline it would be focused towards weapons research and wartime applications cause over half of the national labs funding is spent on weapons R&D.

giobox 2y ago

There was no shortage of other deep-pocketed suitors trying to buy DeepMind too during the Google acquisition back in 2014 - I think DeepMind would have likely found a reasonable home regardless.

creato 2y ago
Are those other deep-pocketed suitors not under antitrust scrutiny themselves at the moment? Maybe they would be first in the firing line of the DoJ if they had bought DeepMind instead?
Jyaif 2y ago
Among the big tech companies, only Google cared about AI at the time.
mensetmanusman 2y ago
I just bring this up as a reminder that the government did kill Bell Labs by breaking up a trust. There are pros and cons to every corporation system.