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."



Nintendo Offers New Switch 2 Details ahead of June 5 Launch

People stand in front of Nintendo's logo in Tokyo, Japan January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
People stand in front of Nintendo's logo in Tokyo, Japan January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
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Nintendo Offers New Switch 2 Details ahead of June 5 Launch

People stand in front of Nintendo's logo in Tokyo, Japan January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
People stand in front of Nintendo's logo in Tokyo, Japan January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

Nintendo has announced a June 5 launch date for its latest gaming console, the Switch 2, which will introduce interactive chat and screenshare functions to connect gamers.

At its 60-minute Nintendo Direct presentation, the company revealed a more vibrant display on the Switch 2, a larger screen and several games that will launch with the console.

Central to its updated system is a new “C” button on its Joy-Con controller, which will launch a new “GameChat” feature that allows you to “communicate with friends and family while playing a game,” and let you share your game screen with other players. A built-in microphone will also allow you to chat with other gamers, The AP reported.

Perhaps the most contemporary function yet for the Switch 2 is the ability to use the Joy-Con controllers like a computer mouse. The developer displayed multiple ways to use the new function in games, such as angling a club in a golf game.

Wednesday's presentation led off with an extended look at a new Mario Kart game that saw in-game characters doing flips, tricks and rail grinds. The developer also unveiled a new James Bond game, dubbed Project 007, revisiting a classic Nintendo 64 console hit revered by many first-person shooter game fans.

The new console will be backwards compatible — able to play physical and digital Switch games — but users will need to purchase a new type of SD memory card for the Switch 2. The presentation revealed that normal SD cards will not be compatible with the system, but data from the original Switch can be transferred to the new console.

Nintendo plans to host “Switch 2 Experience” events in several countries, where gamers can get a hands-on experience with the new system. Those events are planned for cities such as Los Angeles, New York, London and Paris beginning this month.