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WarmWash | on: Changes at Google DeepMind: Demis Hassabis from CEO to Chair, Jeff Dean departs
Google's capex is to capture the compute purchases from the other labs. The amount they are spending on Gemini is probably shockingly low...and hence researchers leaving for better watered pastures.
michaelt | parent | next
> The amount they are spending on Gemini is probably shockingly low

IDK, haven't Google been putting Gemini front and centre in pretty much all of their products?

I'm seeing Gemini on my slide decks, Gemini on my e-mails, Gemini on my searches, Gemini on my videoconferences, Gemini on my database query console. My impression was they were doing a Google Plus style attempt to marshal all the company's efforts behind one product.

WarmWash | root | parent
Their capex is primarily in building DCs (and what goes into them), which they fully intend to monetize in order to capture that $500B backlog. In that context, the amount of new capacity that will be given to Deepmind could be surprisingly small, since the ROI of selling pickaxes rather than mining gold is so much better right now.
mikert89 | parent | next
I’ve heard the pay at deep mind is low and people are complaining about it
bmitc | root | parent
How low are we talking?
mikert89 | root | parent
Nowhere near what other ai labs are paying. Most deep mind employees make what typical Google employees make
VirusNewbie | root | parent | next
Not true, they get paid at least a whole level (or two) above what we make. When I was discussing offers a few years ago, the GDM candidates regularly had six figure differentials even though they were the same level.

Maybe this isn't the same as the eight figure comp they'd get at Meta when they did their hiring spree, but no one thinks that's sustainable.

bmitc | root | parent
So, how low?
loading story #49197795
dnnehgf | parent
this is roughly how i've been reading their approach, but i wonder when/if this changes. what actually makes them start caring about having the most capable model? maybe nothing. i suppose they could be happy in a world where they (a) are still the agents' preferred search index and (b) own or produce a good percentage of the hardware that anthropic and openai run on.
weatherlite | root | parent
> i suppose they could be happy in a world where they (a) are still the agents' preferred search index and (b) own or produce a good percentage of the hardware that anthropic and openai run on.

If the goal is to maximize share price (which it is) this is probably the safest approach. Why do they have to keep chasing developing the best model when they can

a) charge everyone for the cloud infra

b) have a "good enough" experience for normal consumers

Their current setup will be worth trillions. Already is. Let anthropic get paid for the most expensive queries while they get a bill from Google for their cloud/TPU use. GCP grew 82% YOY with 24B revenue and improving margins. So GCP became a 100B business. Anyone doubts it's gonna double in less than 5 years? Gemini just needs to be good enough for normal folks who want personal agents for everyday use. I don't think Google has to compete with Anthropic on making the best agentic programming model.