Is Google's new chip a game changer for AI?

In the arms race between Silicon Valley giants to develop faster and more complex artificial intelligence capabilities, Google has a secret weapon: It's developing its own chips. At a conference for developers on Wednesday, chief executive Sundar Pichai said the tech giant had designed the chip, which the company says it's been using for over a year, specifically to improve its deep neural network. These networks are the brains that "learn" over time to to power features such as Gmail's "Smart Reply," and the ability to tag people in photos and search by voice. The chips were also in place when Google's AlphaGo computer program beat Go champion Lee Sedol in March, although the company didn't announce it at the time. As companies have increasingly focused on building tools that use machine learning as a backbone, they've also branched out into creating their own chips instead of purchasing them from major vendors, such as Nvidia.