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Google DeepMind Launches Institute to Advance AGI Debate
Confirmed
In Short: Google DeepMind has established the DeepMind Institute to foster a broader discussion on artificial general intelligence.
Google DeepMind and Google researchers launched the DeepMind Institute on Wednesday, aiming to broaden the conversation around artificial general intelligence (AGI). The institute includes directors such as DeepMind co-founder Shane Legg, Google executive James Manyika, and Google DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis.
One of the institute's goals is to highlight differing perspectives between Google, Google DeepMind, and the global research community on AGI. An essay by DeepMind safety researchers Rohin Shah and Anca Dragan argues that AI’s shrinking window of transparency is not an inevitability.
Simultaneously, Google introduced WeatherNext 3, an advanced AI model that provides more accurate, high-resolution weather forecasts by leveraging real-time satellite data. This model is integrated across Google Search, Maps, and Gemini, enhancing the weather information available to users.
Google’s WeatherNext 3 model is described as the most accurate global weather model to date, according to independent evaluations by Brightband. It aims to improve the reliability of weather forecasts, which can be crucial for renewable energy projects and other applications.
Researchers from Anthropic and Google DeepMind, including Joe Benton and Josh Engels, have expressed concerns about the risks posed by advanced AI systems. They advocate for increased transparency and safety measures to prevent AI from spiraling out of human control.
What's confirmed
- Google DeepMind and Google researchers launched the DeepMind Institute on Wednesday, aiming to broaden the conversation around artificial general intelligence (AGI). The institute includes directors such as DeepMind co-founder Shane Legg, Google executive James Manyika, and Google DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis.
- One of the institute's goals is to highlight differing perspectives between Google, Google DeepMind, and the global research community on AGI. An essay by DeepMind safety researchers Rohin Shah and Anca Dragan argues that AI’s shrinking window of transparency is not an inevitability.
- Simultaneously, Google introduced WeatherNext 3, an advanced AI model that provides more accurate, high-resolution weather forecasts by leveraging real-time satellite data. This model is integrated across Google Search, Maps, and Gemini, enhancing the weather information available to users.
- Google’s WeatherNext 3 model is described as the most accurate global weather model to date, according to independent evaluations by Brightband. It aims to improve the reliability of weather forecasts, which can be crucial for renewable energy projects and other applications.
- Researchers from Anthropic and Google DeepMind, including Joe Benton and Josh Engels, have expressed concerns about the risks posed by advanced AI systems. They advocate for increased transparency and safety measures to prevent AI from spiraling out of human control.
What's still developing
- Apple partnered with Google to use Gemini models in training the algorithms that power Siri AI.
- Set us as preferred Californians are deeply frustrated with the length of the November ballot, which includes 14 statewide propositions, and gloomy about the direction of the state and the nation, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll published Tuesday night.
- Michal Januszewski, a staff scientist at Google Research, told Ars that the first step is to use a form of generative AI to ensure that the areas at the site of each slice are linked up properly.
- The new work involved a collaboration between biologists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus and computer scientists at Google—both acknowledge that neither could have done the project without the other.
- A new research paper by Google DeepMind suggests that autonomous multi-agent swarms may be less likely to behave in unexpected ways when operating in decentralised, self-governance environments.
- As part of the study, Google DeepMind researchers said they tasked 100 autonomous agents with solving a slew of mathematical conjectures.
- Citing fears that AI systems may soon spiral out of human control and potentially kill all humans, two more researchers from Anthropic and Google DeepMind who recently left their coveted positions are sounding the alarm about risks from advanced AI systems.
- Joe Benton, who used to lead a safety research team at Anthropic, and Josh Engels, who used to work on AI safety research at Google, told NBC News in their first interviews since they left that they see an urgent need to boost transparency about incidents at the cutting edge of AI given the rapid pace of AI development.