Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence – Same but Different

For those that wonder what Google is actually aiming for, Larry Page offers clear direction. He said recently, "Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. The ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the Web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing." The key components of the quote are that this AI-based uber-Google would not only know "everything" on the web (basically the sum of all human knowledge) but would also have an insight into the specific needs of each user, presumably even before the need was stated (hence the use of the term "what you wanted"). These two differences are central to the AI leap – essentially aimed at helping Google make the move from a highly sophisticated database search engine that compares text to a system that has a level of "understanding" of the context.