Google and Google DeepMind launched the DeepMind Institute this week, a publishing platform for essays on artificial general intelligence that the company says are conversation starters, not official positions, according to the institute's own site.
The institute is directed by DeepMind co-founder Shane Legg, Google executive James Manyika and DeepMind chair Demis Hassabis, with Legg as managing editor, TechCrunch reported. Its opening collection includes five essays covering economic policy for AGI disruption, keeping model reasoning human-readable, principles for human flourishing and a framework for frontier AI regulation.
"They will not always agree, and they will likely change their minds, as more data and information comes to light at the fast-moving frontier," the institute said in its introductory essay. Hassabis used his essay to argue for a U.S.-led frontier AI standards body that starts with voluntary submissions and could become mandatory for companies deploying advanced models domestically, TechCrunch reported.
For builders watching where AI policy is headed, an institute explicitly designed to publish disagreement, including disagreement with Google's own DeepMind, is a different signal than a single unified corporate position, whatever it ends up recommending.