Google.ai's neural nets build better neural nets

Google.ai at Google I/O
Google.ai at Google I/O (Image credit: Android Central)

One of the early announcements out of Google I/O 2017's keynote was the launch of google.ai, with which Google aims to "bring the benefits of AI to everyone". Google.ai is a collection of products and teams across Google with a focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

There are several projects under Google.ai underway already, including using neural nets to build better neural nets and a particularly exciting project that looks to bring AI detection to healthcare. Google has worked with pathologists to build neural nets that can detect spreading cancer in lymph nodes with 85% accuracy compared to 70% with previous human methods. Google confessed a higher false positive rate currently, but the net is fast-learning.

Another biomedical application from Google.ai is improving the accuracy of DNA sequencing and helping unlock the wonders of our genetic code. Machine learning is also to predict the properties of molecules, cutting computing time by orders of magnitude, with Sundar Pichai saying "I'm confident that AI will invent new molecules that define in predetermined ways."

Not everything in Google.ai is new and potentially life-saving. Google.ai also powers a feature we've already seen and loved: Google auto-draw.

Ara Wagoner

Ara Wagoner was a staff writer at Android Central. She themes phones and pokes YouTube Music with a stick. When she's not writing about cases, Chromebooks, or customization, she's wandering around Walt Disney World. If you see her without headphones, RUN. You can follow her on Twitter at @arawagco.