Google (GOOGL.US) executive: Search AI is the biggest bet, expected to invest $50 billion in 2024

Google (GOOGL.US) CEO and chief investment officer Ruth Porat revealed at a conference that the company's biggest bet is on applying artificial intelligence (AI) to its search business. Despite facing technological competition and issues with AI models, Google is committed to this strategy.

Porat emphasized that integrating AI into its search business is the company's core strategy. Google has introduced AI summaries in its search tools and added ads, while bringing shopping ads to Google Lens. However, the new search features from OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, have undoubtedly increased the competition in the search field. Despite the issues of errors or misleading results such as AI hallucinations, Google remains optimistic about the development potential of AI in search.

Aside from the search business, Porat also noted that Google Cloud is another significant investment for the company. When asked about whether Google's investment in AI will follow industry trends, Porat said that AI represents a "generational opportunity." She revealed that Google plans to invest $50 billion in 2024 for chips, data centers, and other capital expenditures, but emphasized that the company will be cautious in its bets based on the results.

Porat also discussed Google's efforts in improving healthcare. As the longest-serving CFO of Google, she shared her personal experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer and introduced the company's project using the "AlphaFold" AI system to predict protein folding for drug development. Porat noted that AI not only provides vision protection for those at risk of blindness but also relieves the screen burden of healthcare professionals, allowing them to focus more on patient care.