Google will combine the software division responsible for Android mobile software and the Chrome browser with the hardware division known for Pixel smartphones and Fitbit wearables, the company said Thursday. It’s part of a larger plan to integrate AI more broadly across the company.
In a letter to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the changes will “turbocharge the Android and Chrome ecosystems” while helping to spur innovation.
The move will place both operations under the oversight of Rick Osterloh, a Google executive who previously oversaw the company’s hardware group. Not long ago, Google isolated Android development from its hardware division, saying it wanted to avoid giving its phone designers an unfair advantage over other major smartphone makers that use Android, including Samsung and Motorola, as well as Chinese companies like Oppo and Xiaomi. .
Then, a few years ago, Google started positioning the Pixel as a flagship to demonstrate what AI could accomplish and became heavily invested in developing features that could demonstrate its potential. This meant greater integration of AI hardware and software to power those capabilities on mobile devices.
In an interview with The Verge, a technology publication, Osterloh noted that artificial intelligence is the main reason for bringing together Google’s consumer hardware and software engineers. He argued that phone technology is already becoming increasingly dependent on artificial intelligence, citing the development of the Pixel camera, which among other things uses the technology for features that improve night photos or automatically choose the best of several close-up shots.
Merging the teams, Osterloh added, is a way for Google to move even faster in infusing AI into its features. Designing the Pixel camera several years ago, he said in the interview, required deep knowledge not only of the complex hardware and software systems involved, but also of the early artificial intelligence models used for image processing.
“The hardware-software-AI integration has really demonstrated how AI can totally transform the user experience,” Osterloh said. “It was important. And it is even more true today.”
“What you now start to see Google do is flex its core AI innovation drivers,” said Gartner analyst Chirag Dekate. “Google wants to dominate AI, the heights of the emerging AI economy, both on the consumer side and the enterprise side, essentially infusing AI everywhere and connecting it.”
Meanwhile, the head of Google’s software division, Hiroshi Lockheimer, remains untitled and will start other unnamed projects, according to Pichai’s letter. Lockheimer joined Osterloh for the Verge interview, and the two men insisted that the changes were not the result of a power struggle.
Google is also reorganizing its AI research and responsibilities groups, although these changes in most cases will not directly affect consumer products, at least not for now.