Murad Ahmed

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Back in 2017, researchers at Google came up with a new way of building AI systems called Transformers.

They allowed AI to process language better than ever before.

It was a breakthrough that would dramatically change the AI landscape.

But at the time, Demis Hassibis, the head of Google's AI lab DeepMind, didn't think Transformers were the future of AI.

Madhumita Murguia is the FT's AI editor.

In 2022, a startup called OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot using transformer technology, and sparked a new AI boom that left Google, DeepMind, and Demis Hassibis playing catch-up.

This is Tectonic from the Financial Times.

I'm Murad Ahmed, the FT's technology news editor.

A handful of Silicon Valley companies are vying to lead the world in artificial intelligence.

In the last few years, startups like OpenAI and Anthropic have surged ahead with sophisticated chatbots and advanced coding models.

But now there's a feeling in the valley that Google is back in a big way.

It has the money, the scale, and the talent.

So is Google destined to win the AI race?

To find out if Google is really on the AI combat trail, I spoke to Madameita Murgia, who's followed the career of Demis Hassibis for the best part of a decade, and to Stephen Morris, the FT's bureau chief in San Francisco, who covers, amongst other things, Google.

Okay, guys, so I want the bull and the bear case for why Google and DeepMind are going to win the AI race.