Sergey Brin, who co-founded Google with Larry Page, returned to the company for the first time since he announced his resignation in 2019. According to Forbes, on January 24, Brin filed a request for access to the code in the corporate system. The proof was the screenshots that were at the disposal of the publication. According to two sources, the request is related to LaMDA, a neural network project announced in 2021. It has received a lot of attention recently as Google tries to create a competitor to the ChatGPT chatbot.
Sergey Brin submitted a “CL” (short for “change list”) request to access data that trains LaMDA. It was a two-line change in the config file to add his username to the code, one of the sources said. It is reported that several dozen Google engineers approved the request, even those who are not part of the team working on the neural network project. Apparently, they just wanted to show that they are positive about his return.
All this speaks to how seriously the company takes the looming threat from OpenAI and other competitors. Brin and Page stepped down from Google over three years ago and handed over leadership to Sundar Pichai. However, the latter recently urged the search giant’s founders to rethink their AI strategy and help build an answer to ChatGPT.
Brin’s involvement underscores the level of severity of the problem. Pichai reportedly declared a “red code”, activating the work of several groups within the company at once in order to present countermeasures as soon as possible. Analysts are predicting a slew of new AI-powered Google products by the end of this year. But not all employees reacted positively to Brin’s return, some asked to “fix Google first”, others were disappointed that they were not consulted.
Last month, the head of Google announced a massive layoff due to the company’s refocusing on artificial intelligence. About 12,000 employees were laid off, or 6% of all jobs at Google.
Source: Trash Box
I’m Meagan Diaz, a news writer and author at World Stock Market. My main focus is on technology and stock market trends, and I’m passionate about helping readers stay informed on the ever-changing landscape. I bring extensive knowledge of the industry to my work as well as a knack for storytelling that makes my articles both accessible and engaging.
