Google co-founders Sergey Brin (left) and Larry Page announced Tuesday they are stepping down from their leadership roles but will remain board members of Alphabet, Google's parent company. Google co-founders Sergey Brin (left) and Larry Page announced Tuesday they are stepping down from their leadership roles but will remain board members of Alphabet, Google's parent company. Ending an era at the Internet's biggest search company, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are leaving their leadership roles and CEO Sundar Pichai will become chief executive of both Google and its parent company, Alphabet. Page is stepping down as CEO of Alphabet, while Brin is resigning as its president. They will remain board members of Alphabet, a company that overseas not just Google but also research into artificial intelligence and self-driving cars.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has warned that technology companies must take greater responsibility for the impact of their work on society, particularly AI. Addressing investors, the entrepreneur welcomed the'technology renaissance' we are experiencing but said he recognises the many potential threats it brings. Brin promised he would work to protect humanity from the potentially negative impacts of AI, including manipulation and'sci-fi style sentience'. Google has become a top target in Silicon Valley for regulators, authorities and critics in advertising and media concerned about its growing influence. His comments follow a period of heightened global awareness about the misuse of digital services and dark predictions over the future of intelligent machines.

Alphabet just published its annual Founders' Letter and this year, cofounder Sergey Brin uses it to outline the ways the company's using artificial intelligence, while highlighting both the benefits and risks of this "technology renaissance." While Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other top brass have been mentioning the idea of being an "AI-first" company for years, Brin's letter provides both explicit and broad ways that the company is currently using artificial intelligence every day. Brin's letter also acknowledges the risk of artificial intelligence, which he says that Google is taking seriously. However, such powerful tools also bring with them new questions and responsibilities. How will they affect employment across different sectors?

In the latest hearing in the Uber vs. Waymo lawsuit on Wednesday, San Francisco district judge William Alsup addressed Uber's complaint that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is trying to avoid deposition. Alsup said, "you go back and tell that guy he better show up," after voicing frustration at Alphabet executives claiming they are "too busy." Brin is currently the president of Alphabet, the holding company that includes both Google and Waymo, the self-driving car unit that was spun out of Google. Alsup also said Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the center of the dispute, could be called to testify in court even though he has previously pleaded the fifth. Alsup also said that all questions by Uber and Waymo would be reviewed in advance and must have evidence backing them.

AI's next frontier requires ethics built through policy. With one foot in its science fiction past and the other in the new frontier of science and tech innovations, AI occupies a unique place in our cultural imagination. Will we live into a future where machines are as intelligent -- or frighteningly, more so -- than humans? We have already witnessed AI predict the outcome of the latest U.S. presidential election when many policy wonks failed. Perhaps we are further along than we thought.

Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill that will regulate self-driving cars in California Google co-founder Sergey Brin hopes to have self-driving cars on public roads within five years Brin says self-driving cars address safety, traffic and lifestyle issues Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill that will regulate self-driving cars in California California is the latest state to allow testing of Google's self-driving cars on the roads, though only with a human passenger along as a safety measure. Gov. Edmund "Jerry" Brown signed the autonomous-vehicles bill into law Tuesday afternoon alongside Google co-founder Sergey Brin and State Sen. Alex Padilla, who authored the bill, at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California. The bill, SB 1298, will set up procedures and requirements for determining when the cars are road-ready. Brin hopes that self-driving cars will be able to drive on public streets in five years or less. "Anybody who first gets in the car and finds the car is driving will be a little skittish. But they'll get over it," said Brown when asked if the California Highway Patrol was on board with the plan.