Google CEO Sundar Pichai announces $120 million fund for global AI education

Speaking at the United Nations Future Summit on Saturday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai described AI as “the most transformative technology ever” and announced a new fund for AI education and training worldwide.

Pichai outlined four major opportunities he sees for AI and sustainable development, according to a transcript of his prepared remarks: helping people access information in their own language, accelerating scientific discovery, providing warnings and tracking of climate disasters, and fueling economic progress.

Pichai acknowledged that AI also poses risks, for example with deep fakes, although he did not mention AI’s impact on the climate.

He added that he wanted to avoid a “global AI divide” that mirrors the current digital divide. So Google created a $120 million Global AI Opportunities Fund, through which the company will “make AI education and training accessible to communities around the world,” delivered in local languages, in partnership with local nonprofits and NGOs.

On the same theme, Pichai called for “regulation of smart products that mitigates harm and resists national protectionist impulses” — otherwise, he predicted, regulation could “widen the AI ​​gap and limit the benefits of AI.”