Ruth Porat, Alphabet's President and Chief Investment Officer, emphasized at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York that leveraging AI in the search sector is the company's most significant initiative.
Google has already integrated AI Overviews into its Search platform and has begun incorporating advertisements into these Overviews, along with shopping ads for Google Lens. These developments come in response to new search features introduced by OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, intensifying the competitive landscape for Google.
Porat remarked, "We're meeting people where they want to be next," during her conversation with Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni.
With over $300 billion in annual revenue largely derived from search-related advertising, Alphabet has implemented AI-generated overviews for queries lacking clear answers, showcasing its commitment to innovation.
This strategic shift is a response to competition from OpenAI and has necessitated careful navigation of challenges, including the phenomenon of "hallucinations," where AI may produce inaccurate or misleading information.
Porat indicated that the Search function will continue to evolve, while also highlighting Google Cloud as another vital area of investment for the company.
When asked about the potential rise in costs associated with Alphabet's AI investments, Porat described the technology as a "generational opportunity." The company is projected to allocate $50 billion towards chips, data centers, and other capital expenditures in 2024, as communicated to analysts. However, the report noted that Alphabet will base its investments on tangible results.
Porat, who has the longest tenure as CFO of Google and Alphabet and is a breast cancer survivor, also shared insights into Alphabet's initiatives aimed at enhancing healthcare.
Porat highlighted Google's "AlphaFold," an artificial intelligence system designed to predict protein structures, which the company is utilizing for drug discovery via its Isomorphic Labs division. The executive emphasized that AI has the potential to preserve vision for individuals at risk of blindness and to alleviate the workload of medical professionals, allowing them to concentrate more on patient care, according to the report.