Google surprisingly signals a major change to how it might utilize AI

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The Gemini logo and wordmark is seen next to an Android phone againsy a black background.
Google has made a major change no longer promising that the company will never use artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a weapon or as a tool to help it conduct surveillance. After revising the principles that guide how the company uses AI, Google removed a section of the principles that rules out usages of AI that were "likely to cause harm." Google senior vice president James Manyika and CEO of Google's Deep Mind AI lab wrote a blog post explaining the reason for this shift.

Manyika and Hassabis say that they defend the move to change its principles because democratic governments and businesses need to use AI to support national security. The pair wrote that they are investing more than ever in both AI research and products that help people and society. At the same time, Google needs to look for ways to improve AI safety while examining and fixing possible risks.

Google admitted that with the changes seen in AI since Google last published its principles in 2018, the company needed to clearly explain the reasoning behind the changes it has made to its principles. The company compares artificial intelligence to a niche research topic that has now "become as pervasive as mobile phones and the internet itself." For example, billions of people now use AI in their everyday lives.


Google parent Alphabet reported its Q4 financial numbers the other day. The results failed to top expectations leading the shares of Alphabet to decline. In the report, Google shook up Wall Street by forecasting that it will spend $75 billion on AI projects, 29% more than analysts were expecting. Spending all that money freaked out some analysts and Alphabet shareholders sending the stock lower.


Google no longer agrees not to develop a weapon using AI nor does it promise not to use the technology to conduct surveillance. That doesn't mean that the Alphabet unit is going into the business of developing AI weapons. It means that in creating uses for AI that are meant to help people and keep the world safe, Google might no longer feel the need to specifically state that it won't use AI for these purposes.

Gemini can be found on the Google Search app creating AI overviews to help answer some queries. On top of the app is a shortcut that will open the Gemini app.
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