Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on stage at the annual Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California, May 8, 2018.
Stephen Lam | Reuters
Google is reshuffling the reporting structure of its virtual assistant unit — called Assistant — to focus more on Bard, a recent AI-powered chat technology.
In a memo to employees on Wednesday, titled “Changes to the Assistant and Bard teams,” Sissie Hsiao, vp and head of the Google Assistant business unit, announced changes to the organization that show the unit is placing a heavy emphasis on Bard.
Jianchang “JC” Mao, who reported on to Hsiao, will leave the company for private reasons, based on a memo seen by CNBC. Mao was vp of engineering for the Google Assistant and “helped shape the Assistant now we have today,” Hsiao wrote.
Mao’s place will likely be taken by 16-year-old Google veteran Peeyush Ranjan, who most recently served as vp of Google’s industrial organization, overseeing payments.
“As the Bard teams proceed this work, we wish to make sure that we proceed to support and capitalize on upcoming opportunities,” Hsiao said in an email. “This 12 months, greater than ever, we focused on delivering content for the profit of our users.”
Google Assistant is an AI-based virtual assistant application and language processing software much like Apples Siri or Amazon Alex. Often in the form of Speech Recognition, Assistant is used on mobile and residential devices, including the Pixel smartphone and Nest smart speakers and devices. Additionally it is utilized in smart watches, smart displays, TVs and vehicles via the Android Auto platform.
Latest leadership changes suggest that the Assistants organization could have plans to integrate Bard technology into similar products in the future.
Last week, Google released its ChatGPT competitor Bard to the public, calling it an “experiment” starting with testing in the US and UK after CNBC reported testing the product in January. CNBC previously reported that the company brought in team members from various areas around the company to give attention to Barda as part of its “code red” drive.
As part of Wednesday’s shift, Google Assistant’s vp of engineering, Amar Subramanya, will now lead engineering for the Bard team, the email reads. Trevor Strohman, who previously led engineering at Bard, will proceed as “area technical manager” at Bard, reporting to Hsiao.
Nonetheless, there remains to be an enormous query about how the technology may be used to generate revenue.
Management suggested using it as a search product, but Bard management recently tried to downplay this use case for workers, whilst the company struggled to reply to Microsoft Bing Chat-GPT Integration.
Google didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
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