Google’s primary Artificial Intelligence model, Gemini, has more than doubled to 900 million users in one year, according to the company. Sundar Pichai said, “Last year at I/O, the Gemini app had 400 million monthly active users. Today, we’ve surpassed 900 million, more than doubling in a year. In that same time, daily requests have grown over seven times.” The growth underscores how quickly Google’s Artificial Intelligence products are spreading as competition intensifies across the sector.
Demis Hassabis, chief executive and co-founder of Google DeepMind, described Artificial Intelligence as a transformative force that could usher in a new era for humanity. He said he wants the technology used to advance science and medicine and called it the ultimate tool to push forward scientific discovery. Hassabis said its impact could be far greater and much faster than past industrial shifts, while pointing to medicine, energy, and environmental issues as areas where the technology could deliver major benefits.
Hassabis also acknowledged the risks. He said Artificial Intelligence will disrupt jobs, even as it creates significant new opportunities. He called for civil society, academia, and social sciences to help determine how the next phase unfolds, arguing that the future is still open and should not be dictated by a small group of technology leaders. He said there needs to be an international standards approach and that broader society should play a central role in governance.
On energy use, Hassabis addressed concerns that data centers powering Artificial Intelligence are contributing to higher electricity costs. He said several large technology companies, including Meta, Microsoft and Google, are already building their own energy infrastructure so that the burden of those costs and the energy they consume is not passed on to consumers. He added, “I think Artificial Intelligence, in the next 10 years, is going to save far more energy than it uses in the long run.”