AI Is 'Biggest Shift of Our Lifetimes', Says Google Boss

 Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivers a speech during the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris, on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivers a speech during the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris, on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
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AI Is 'Biggest Shift of Our Lifetimes', Says Google Boss

 Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivers a speech during the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris, on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivers a speech during the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris, on February 10, 2025. (AFP)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a "fundamental rewiring of technology" that will act as an "accelerant of human ingenuity", Google boss Sundar Pichai will say Monday at a global AI summit in Paris.

"We're still in the early days of the AI platform shift, and yet we know it will be the biggest of our lifetimes," Pichai was to say according to excerpts from his speech to global leaders and tech industry chiefs seen by AFP.

The Google boss will highlight imminent applications for AI technology such as detecting the emergence of wildfires in satellite images, as well as announce a partnership for detecting and treating cancer with the French capital's Institut Curie.

Demis Hassabis, the head of Google's DeepMind AI research lab, also hailed the technology's potential at an event on Sunday in Google's Paris offices.

“Material science, mathematics, fusion, there is almost no area of science that won’t benefit from these AI tools," the Nobel chemistry laureate said.

Pichai said this month that Google would plough $75 billion into capital investments this year, mostly in AI.

"With AI, we have the chance to democratize access (to a new technology) from the start, and to ensure that the digital divide doesn't become an AI divide," he was to say Tuesday.

The concept of a "digital divide" refers to the gap between people with or without easy access to and familiarity with the internet and modern communications technologies.

"Every generation worries that the new technology will change the lives of the next generation for the worse -- and yet it's almost always the opposite," Pichai's text read.

Playing down today's fears about the impact of AI, he will insist that "We must not let our own bias for the present get in the way of the future. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve lives at the scale of AI."



DeepSeek Available to Download Again in South Korea After Suspension 

The DeepSeek logo is seen on January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
The DeepSeek logo is seen on January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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DeepSeek Available to Download Again in South Korea After Suspension 

The DeepSeek logo is seen on January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
The DeepSeek logo is seen on January 29, 2025. (Reuters)

Chinese artificial intelligence service DeepSeek became available again on South Korean app markets on Monday for the first time in about two months, when downloads were suspended after authorities cited breaches in data protection rules.

South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission said on Thursday that DeepSeek transferred user data and prompts without permission when the service first launched in South Korea in January.

Downloading the app was suspended in February after the questions over personal data protection surfaced, but the service was available for download again on South Korea's app market including via Apple's App Store and Google Play Store.

"We process your personal information in compliance with the Personal Information Protection Act of Korea," DeepSeek said in a revised privacy policy note applied to the app.

DeepSeek said users had the option to refuse to allow the transfer of personal information to a number of companies in China and the United States.

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

South Korea's data protection agency said DeepSeek had voluntarily decided to make the app available for download, which it is free to do after at least partially reflecting its recommendations.