Funds increased

Google pumps €20 million into basic AI research

Google.org is providing an additional 20 million dollars (19 million euros) to support artificial intelligence in groundbreaking scientific projects. This sum complements the 200 million dollars that Google has invested in AI projects over the past five years to accelerate research. Google made the announcement in London at the first "AI for Science Forum" organized by Google DeepMind and the Royal Society.

The Royal Society is the UK's national academy of science. The projects supported include developing new plastics, improving cancer research in women and supporting Doctors Without Borders in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Google.org is the charitable, non-commercial arm of Google and has existed since 2005. The organization focuses on tackling global challenges through technology and data. It supports non-profit organizations and social projects in areas such as environmental protection, education, health, crisis management and equal opportunities.

"AI advances science"
 The recent award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Google Deepmind researchers Demis Hassabis and John Jumper illustrates how AI is advancing science. Their AlphaFold project, which accurately predicts protein structures, is used by over two million researchers in 190 countries. It helps in the fight against malaria, the development of new Parkinson's therapies and more. AI is also driving progress in areas such as hydrology, neuroscience and climate research.

Nobel Prize-winning chemist Hassabis, CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind, said he is convinced that artificial intelligence will help scientists and researchers achieve some of the greatest breakthroughs of our time. "We hope that the launch of our $20 million fund will help to further foster collaboration between the private and public sectors, reignite excitement about the potential of AI and science, and inspire others to join us in funding this important work."