Google announced that it will combine its software division, responsible for Android mobile software and the Chrome browser, with its hardware division, known for Pixel smartphones and Fitbit wearables.
SAN FRANCISCO — Google announced Thursday that it is combining its software division, responsible for Android mobile software and the Chrome browser, with its hardware division, known for Pixel smartphones and Fitbit wearables. This is part of a broader plan to integrate artificial intelligence more widely across the company.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a letter to employees that the changes will “revitalize the Android and Chrome ecosystem” while helping foster innovation.
The decision puts both businesses under the oversight of Google executive Rick Osterloh, who previously oversaw the company’s hardware group. Until recently, Google said it wanted to avoid giving its phone designers an unfair advantage over other major smartphone manufacturers that use Android, such as Samsung, Motorola, and Chinese companies such as Oppo and Xiaomi. , separated Android development from the hardware department. .
Then, a few years ago, Google started positioning the Pixel as a flagship for demonstrating what AI could do, and began focusing heavily on developing features that could demonstrate that potential. This means further integration of AI hardware and software to power these capabilities on mobile devices.
In an interview with technology publication The Verge, Osterloh said AI is the main reason for bringing together Google’s consumer hardware and software engineers. Citing the development of the Pixel camera, he argues that mobile phone technology is already increasingly reliant on AI, especially to enhance nighttime photos and some photos taken in close time. He claimed to use this technology for the ability to automatically select the best one from the list.
Osterloh added that by combining the teams, Google will be able to bring AI into its capabilities even faster. A few years ago, he said that designing the Pixel camera required not only the complex hardware and software involved in his system, but also deep knowledge of his then-early AI model used for image processing. he said in an interview.
“The integration of hardware, software, and AI really showed how AI can completely transform the user experience,” Osterloh says. “That was important. And that’s even truer today.”
“What Google is doing now is leveraging its core AI innovation engine in a flexible way,” said Gartner analyst Chirag Dekate. “Google wants to dominate AI at the pinnacle of the emerging AI economy, both on the consumer side and on the enterprise side, by essentially deploying AI everywhere and connecting AI.”
Meanwhile, Google’s head of software, Hiroshi Lockheimer, remains without a title and will begin work on other unnamed projects, according to Pichai’s letter. But Lockheimer joined Osterloh in an interview with the Verge, and both men insisted the changes were not the result of a power struggle.
Google is also restructuring its AI research and responsibility group, but for the most part these changes won’t directly impact consumer products (at least for now).
