Google is falling behind in AI arms race, senior engineer warns
A senior software engineer at Google wrote a critique asserting that the internet search leader is losing its edge in artificial intelligence to the open-source community, where many independent researchers use AI technology to make rapid and unexpected advances.
The engineer, Luke Sernau, published the document on an internal system at Google in early April. Over the past few weeks, the document was shared thousands of times among Googlers, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss internal company matters. On Thursday, the document was published by the consulting firm SemiAnalysis, and made the rounds in Silicon Valley.
In Sernau's analysis, Google's rivalry with startup OpenAI had distracted from the rapid developments being made in open-source technology. “We've done a lot of looking over our shoulders at OpenAI. Who will cross the next milestone? What will the next move be?” he wrote. “But the uncomfortable truth is, we aren't positioned to win this arms race and neither is OpenAI. While we've been squabbling, a third faction has been quietly eating our lunch. I'm talking, of course, about open source.”
Sernau did not respond to a request for comment.
As progress in generative artificial intelligence accelerates, employees at Google and other tech giants have engaged in spirited discussions internally and externally about the technology that is remaking their industry. Google, in particular, has come under pressure as the wild popularity of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT has sparked concerns that the company may be losing its advantage in artificial intelligence, a field where it has long been a leader.
Yet Sernau asserted that the real threat to
Read more on tech.hindustantimes.com
