Google’s big bet on computers that can teach themselves is about to face its most significant examination.
“Machine learning” has brought artificial intelligence (AI) back into the technology mainstream which, for Google, means using its computing resources to analyse mountains of data to identify patterns and make predictions, from calculating the adverts users are likely to find relevant to whether a digital image shows a cat or a dog.
“It’s now solving problems we don’t know how to solve in any other way,” said Jeff Dean, the engineer who has spearheaded Google’s efforts since it began to focus on the area nearly five years ago. About 100 product teams at Google now apply the technology, he added. The latest — and most visible — product of the push is an intelligent digital assistant, intended to usher in a more natural and intelligent form of human-computer interaction, based on the use of everyday language. The feature — called Assistant — is due to appear, in different guises, in a range of Google products and services in the coming weeks.