Google Invests $20 Million in AI-Powered Scientific Research

Google Invests $20 Million to Drive AI-Powered Scientific Discoveries

Google's $20M Fund Aims to Revolutionize Science with Artificial Intelligence Google is making a significant investment in the future of science and research by committing $20 million in funding and an additional $2 million in cloud credits. This initiative, spearheaded by Google.org, aims to empower scientists and researchers to tackle complex challenges and achieve groundbreaking discoveries using artificial intelligence (AI). Demis Hassabis, CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind, emphasized the transformative potential of AI in scientific endeavors. "I believe artificial intelligence will help scientists and researchers achieve some of the greatest breakthroughs of our time," Hassabis stated. The fund, announced via Google.org, seeks to foster collaboration between public and private sectors while encouraging innovative applications of AI in science. The funding program targets projects that leverage AI to solve intricate problems at the intersections of various scientific disciplines. According to Maggie Johnson, Google's VP and global head of Google.org, fields such as rare and neglected disease research, experimental biology, materials science, and sustainability hold tremendous promise for AI-driven advancements. Winning applicants will benefit not only from financial support but also from access to Google's cloud infrastructure, enabling them to scale and power their research projects effectively. Johnson highlighted that the initiative aims to inspire excitement around AI's potential in science and encourage other stakeholders to join in funding similar efforts. This move by Google follows a broader trend of tech giants investing in AI-driven research. Recently, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced $110 million in grants and credits to attract AI researchers to its ecosystem. The competition among tech companies to lead AI innovation underscores the growing recognition of AI's pivotal role in shaping the future of science and technology. Hassabis expressed optimism about the initiative's impact, saying, "We hope the launch of our $20 million fund will inspire further collaboration and renewed enthusiasm for the power of AI and science." By supporting interdisciplinary projects, Google aims to advance knowledge in areas that could benefit humanity significantly, such as sustainability and health care. This also attests to Google's philosophy of approaching other world leading scientific minds. Combined here are direct grants of cash and modern cloud solutions that allow the company to become an important partner of the scientific community in the search for new solutions. The advent of Google fund is a clear testimony that technologies giant deem AI/Science as a perfect cocktail with which to address the challenges. That this race is intensifying towards actually applying AI for the greater good identifies this move as establishing a model for collaboration between tech executives and scientific scientists.

Google.org commits $20M to researchers using AI for scientific breakthroughs

Google is committing $20 million in cash and $2 million in cloud credits to a new funding initiative designed to help scientists and researchers unearth the next great scientific breakthroughs using artificial intelligence (AI). The announcement, made by Google DeepMind co-founder and CEO Demis Hassabis during a fireside chat at the closed-door AI for Science Forum in London today, feeds into a broader push by Big Tech to curry favor with young innovators and startups, a strategy that has included acqui-hires, equity investments and cloud partnerships -- some of which has attracted the attentions of European regulators. This latest announcement, via Google's 19-year-old philanthropic arm Google.org, is different in that it centers on non-equity funding for academic and non-for-profit institutions globally. But similar to its other funding initiatives, this will go some way toward helping Google ingratiate itself with some of the leading scientific minds, through direct cash injections and by providing infrastructure to power their projects. In turn, this positions Google well to acquire future customers -- particularly those currently on the cusp of doing great things, working on projects that require significant AI tooling and compute which Google can provide. Google isn't alone in this approach -- just last week, Amazon's cloud leader AWS announced $110 million in grants and credits to lure AI researchers into its own ecosystem. Elsewhere, Google itself has made other similar commitments in the AI sphere of late, including a $20 million fund to support think tanks and academic institutions building out their AI expertise, and a similar-size fund to run a generative AI accelerator program for startups. Addressing complex problems The one thing winning applicants should have in common is that they will be using "AI to address increasingly complex problems at the intersections of different disciplines of science," according to an accompanying blog post from Maggie Johnson, Google VP and global head of Google.org, "Fields such as rare and neglected disease research, experimental biology, materials science and sustainability all show promise," Johnson wrote. In response to some follow-up questions from TechCrunch, a Google spokesperson said that they don't have a set target in terms of the number of projects they're looking to finance. However, they stressed that they want the funding to be "significant enough to fuel scientific breakthroughs" -- this means it's not looking to pepper small pockets of cash far-and wide. Instead, it's likely to be dispersed around no more than around 15 organizations, with plans to select the recipients and give out the funding by 2026. It's worth noting that it has been a big year for Google's AI unit DeepMind itself. Hassabis, one of DeepMind's three founders, was awarded a knighthood for services to AI back in March. Then in October, Hassabis and DeepMind director John Jumper (pictured together above) scooped one half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on AlphaFold, which has helped accelerate research around drug discovery, diagnosing diseases, and bioengineering. This newest fund essentially seeks to build off that momentum. "I believe artificial intelligence will help scientists and researchers achieve some of the greatest breakthroughs of our time," Hassabis said in a stock statement issued to TechCrunch. "We hope the launch of our $20 million fund will help encourage further collaboration between the private and public sectors, kick-start renewed excitement for the power of AI and science, and inspire others to join us in funding this important work."

Google.org's $20 million fund for AI and science

The recent award to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper of the Nobel Prize (® the Nobel Foundation) in Chemistry, for AlphaFold's contributions to protein structure prediction, is proof that AI can deliver incredible breakthroughs for scientists. Already, more than 2 million researchers across 190 countries have used AlphaFold to help accelerate the fight against malaria, combat a widespread and deadly parasitic disease and pave the way for new Parkinson's treatments. And AI is enabling our progress across a range of scientific domains from hydrology to neuro and climate sciences. But for AI to enable the next generation of scientific breakthroughs, scientists need necessary funding, computing power, cross-domain expertise and access to infrastructure including foundational datasets, like the Protein Data Bank that fueled the work with AlphaFold. That's why today, at the inaugural AI for Science Forum hosted by Google DeepMind and the Royal Society, Google.org announced $20 million in funding to support academic and nonprofit organizations around the world that are using AI to address increasingly complex problems at the intersections of different disciplines of science. Fields such as rare and neglected disease research, experimental biology, materials science and sustainability all show promise. We'll work with leaders internally across our Google DeepMind, Google Research and other AI-focused teams as well as external experts to identify and announce organizations. We will also provide $2 million in Google Cloud Credits and pro bono technical expertise from Googlers. This funding builds on the more than $200 million Google.org has provided to organizations using AI to accelerate their scientific work over the last five years, including Materiom building novel plastics; the Women's Cancer Institute (coordinated by Institut Curie) improving the detection, treatment and understanding of women's cancer; and Doctors Without Borders helping to stamp out antibiotic resistance. Time and again, funding, technology and collaboration have come together to drive scientific discovery. We're hopeful that this new funding helps incubate more Nobel-level achievements that will improve the lives of millions of people -- and that other philanthropic, public and private funders join us by investing in long-term, meaningful outcomes that exemplify AI's ability to enable science at digital speed.