Google says it is working on Reasoning AI, following the efforts of OpenAI
Google is working on artificial intelligence software that resembles the human ability to reason, similar to OpenAI’s o1, marking a new front in the rivalry between the tech giant and the fast-growing startup.
In recent months, several teams at Google from Alphabet Inc. progress has been made with AI reasoning software, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Such software programs are more adept at solving multi-step problems in areas such as mathematics and computer programming.
AI researchers are pursuing reasoning models as they search for the next major step forward in technology. Like OpenAI, Google is trying to approximate human reasoning using a technique known as chain-of-thought prompting, two of the people said. In this technique, which Google pioneered, the software pauses for a few seconds before responding to a written prompt, while behind the scenes and invisibly to the user it considers a number of related prompts and then summarizes what seems like the best response. .
Google declined to comment on the effort.
Google and OpenAI have been locked in an intense battle for AI dominance, especially since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a popular chatbot that some investors fear will eventually eliminate the need for Google searches. Google has taken several steps to regain its lead, including merging its key research labs into the Google DeepMind unit and strengthening relationships between researchers and product teams. Yet the search giant continues to move more slowly when it comes to releasing AI products, pausing to consider ethical issues, the need to meet public expectations about trust in its brand, and the competing interests of multiple similar efforts in the enormous organization. .
Since OpenAI unveiled its o1 model, known internally as Strawberry, in mid-September, some at DeepMind have been concerned that the company has fallen behind, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. But employees aren’t as concerned as they were after ChatGPT’s launch, now that Google has introduced some of its own work, the person said.
Despite the slower pace of Google’s product rollout, it remains a formidable player, said Oren Etzioni, a veteran AI researcher who founded TrueMedia.org, a nonprofit dedicated to combating political disinformation.
“Technically, Google’s capabilities have always been top-notch. They were just more conservative in rolling things out,” Etzioni said. “It’s a marathon and it’s everyone’s race to win.”
In July, Google presented AlphaProof, which specializes in mathematical reasoning, and AlphaGeometry 2, an updated version of a model focused on geometry that the company debuted earlier this year. The programs tackled four of the six problems featured in the International Mathematical Olympiad, an annual competition in which students tackle topics such as algebra and geometry, Google said in a blog post.
At its developer conference in May, Google showed a glimpse of an AI assistant, Astra, that can use a phone’s camera to see the world around it and answer questions, such as telling a user where she left her glasses. Google said some Assistant features could come to its flagship AI model, Gemini, by the end of this year.
“Advanced mathematical reasoning is a critical capability for modern AI,” Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis wrote in a post on social network X in July.
© 2024 BloombergLP
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
