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Google Search head: I'm off. Yes, I told you yesterday. On Google+
*Click*. Firm locks Artificial intelligence head in place
Google's SVP for Search is to leave the company after 15 years and will be replaced by the Chocolate Factory's head of of AI as the company goes hard on machine learning.
Amit Singhal announced his intention to "make this important life change" in a Google+ post yesterday evening, and plans to take off on 26 February.
He will be replaced by John Giannandrea, who was assimilated by Google when it bought his Metaweb Technologies startup, the assets of which came to be the foundation of the company's Knowledge Graph.
Researchers from the London-based Google AI project Deep Mind recently announced that their AlphaGo program had defeated a professional human player in a full-sized game of Go.
"Search has transformed people’s lives; over a billion people rely on us," wrote Singhal of the "monopolgy" on vital platforms.
The Chocolate Factory will be hoping an AI focus on its Search platform can help it continue to drive revenue from advertising while also shuffling into the world of transaction cash.
"Our mission of empowering people with information and the impact it has had on this world cannot be overstated. When I started, who would have imagined that in a short period of fifteen years, we would tap a button, ask Google anything and get the answer. Today, it has become second nature to us," he added. ®