來(lái)源：全球人工智能
概要：谷歌或許是拉里·佩奇最著名的項(xiàng)目，但Alphabet的“其他賭注”成為其2016年致股東信中的焦點(diǎn)。
據(jù)CNBC報(bào)道，谷歌或許是拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）最著名的項(xiàng)目，但Alphabet的“其他賭注”成為其2016年致股東信中的焦點(diǎn)。他寫道：“這種新結(jié)構(gòu)已經(jīng)幫助企業(yè)家們自主、快速地創(chuàng)建和運(yùn)營(yíng)公司?！?/font>
Alphabet旗下無(wú)人駕駛汽車子公司W(wǎng)aymo、生命科學(xué)子公司Verily以及智能家居平臺(tái)Nest都在致股東信中被凸顯出來(lái)。這封信旨在慶祝谷歌宣布充足2年來(lái)取得的里程碑。佩奇寫道：“我們已經(jīng)進(jìn)行了有意義的精簡(jiǎn)努力，我認(rèn)為我們已經(jīng)學(xué)到了許多東西，包括如何通過(guò)結(jié)構(gòu)調(diào)整建立新公司。我們最近推出的Waymo就是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的嘗試?！?/font>
佩奇還強(qiáng)調(diào)了谷歌核心搜索業(yè)務(wù)與Alphabet其他諸多項(xiàng)目之間的聯(lián)系通道，即人工智能（AI）。他寫道：“我們正處于機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)的起步階段，但已經(jīng)預(yù)見到其巨大潛力。Alphabet的許多業(yè)務(wù)都在使用這種技術(shù)，并計(jì)劃更多采用它?！?/font>
以下為佩奇致股東信全文：
A代表著Alphabet，很難相信我們已經(jīng)在改組成立Alphabet2年后，又度過(guò)了1個(gè)季度。這段時(shí)間非常忙碌，但我覺得Alphabet的運(yùn)行非常順暢，就像預(yù)期那樣。當(dāng)時(shí)我曾寫道：“Alphabet會(huì)在強(qiáng)有力的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)和獨(dú)立情況下繁榮起來(lái)。”這種新結(jié)構(gòu)已經(jīng)幫助企業(yè)家們自主、快速地創(chuàng)建和運(yùn)營(yíng)公司。
謝爾蓋（Sergey）和我在Alphabet的整體方向上配合默契，同時(shí)為這些公司提供指導(dǎo)。桑達(dá)爾（Sundar）是非常棒的谷歌首席執(zhí)行官，那是非常重要的工作，我們非常幸運(yùn)能依賴他。將來(lái)，他也可能像過(guò)去那樣發(fā)表致股東信，為此我在此不會(huì)太多談及與谷歌相關(guān)主題的話題。但是我很高興，他正帶領(lǐng)公司專注于機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)和人工智能。我們利用Google Assistant沿著這個(gè)方向邁出了一大步，并將其植入到許多硬件設(shè)備中，比如智能手機(jī)Pixel和智能揚(yáng)聲器Google Home等。此外，還有更多設(shè)備和服務(wù)將引入這種智能助理。
自從我上次發(fā)布致股東信以來(lái)，Alphabet內(nèi)部已經(jīng)發(fā)生了很多事情。我們的許多項(xiàng)目都被拆分成獨(dú)立公司，有了更大自主性和專門的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。Waymo是新的無(wú)人駕駛汽車，它脫胎于X實(shí)驗(yàn)室的Project Chauffeur項(xiàng)目。約翰·克拉弗西克（John Krafcik）擔(dān)任新的首席執(zhí)行官，并帶來(lái)豐富的汽車行業(yè)經(jīng)驗(yàn)。我喜歡這個(gè)名字，但我更喜歡你們參觀Waymo展現(xiàn)出的興奮。Waymo正與菲亞特-克萊斯勒達(dá)成合作關(guān)系，對(duì)后者的插電式混合動(dòng)力汽車Pacifica進(jìn)行改造，我看到它身上有很多傳感器，并在Waymo辦公室中轉(zhuǎn)來(lái)轉(zhuǎn)去，我已經(jīng)不迫不及待地看到它被投入市場(chǎng)了。
Verily Life Sciences是2015年12月份成立的，以安迪·康拉德（Andy Conrad）為首任首席執(zhí)行官，它也源自X實(shí)驗(yàn)室。 這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)已經(jīng)非常努力，并從Temasek處獲得8億美元投資，后者也加入了Verily董事會(huì)，并幫助在亞洲擴(kuò)張。我很喜歡他們的Debug項(xiàng)目，其目標(biāo)是幫助消滅蚊子。這家公司已經(jīng)運(yùn)行了一段時(shí)間，顯示出良好的遠(yuǎn)見，因?yàn)樗谡ú《敬蟊l(fā)之前就已經(jīng)開始項(xiàng)目研究。
2016年6月份，馬爾文·法瓦茲（Marwan Fawaz）成為Nest的首席執(zhí)行官。我們都非常喜歡能與他共事，我推薦你購(gòu)買他們開發(fā)出的所有產(chǎn)品，包括室內(nèi)和戶外攝像頭、智能恒溫器以及煙霧警報(bào)等。
最近，格雷格·麥克雷（Greg McCray）被任命為Google Fiber的首席執(zhí)行官。我很喜歡與他及其團(tuán)隊(duì)共同工作，他已經(jīng)迅速進(jìn)入角色。麥克雷視察了我們所有推出Google Fiber服務(wù)的城市，為此我認(rèn)為他在返回山景城總部時(shí)，可能會(huì)提出自己的大計(jì)劃。為了向人們提供千兆光纖網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)，我們已經(jīng)已經(jīng)投入巨資，我很高興我們能有機(jī)會(huì)做得更好。
在Alphabet內(nèi)部，我們還有許多其他項(xiàng)目。Calico首席執(zhí)行官亞特·萊文森（Art Levinson）正創(chuàng)建驚人的研發(fā)公司，專注于對(duì)抗衰老。我們還成立了新的投資機(jī)構(gòu)GV (前身是Google Ventures)、CapitalG (前身是Google Capital) ，它們的表現(xiàn)也都非常棒。謝爾蓋繼續(xù)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)X的“moonshot工廠”，他們有許多項(xiàng)目，比如遞送無(wú)人機(jī)Wing，我已經(jīng)等不及看到它面世。
隨著Alphabet的變化，監(jiān)督變得更容易，因?yàn)橥该鞫却蠓岣?。我們已?jīng)進(jìn)行了有意義的精簡(jiǎn)努力，我認(rèn)為我們已經(jīng)學(xué)到了許多東西，包括如何通過(guò)結(jié)構(gòu)調(diào)整建立新公司。我們最近推出的Waymo就是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的嘗試?？偟膩?lái)說(shuō)，我們正耐心地進(jìn)行資本投資，尤其是特別重要的領(lǐng)域。如果我們沒有看到太大機(jī)遇，我們就不會(huì)投資。我們覺得，在其他人干得不錯(cuò)之前，我們必須提前進(jìn)行努力。機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)和圍繞Google Brain、Deepmind進(jìn)行的所有努力就是最佳例證。
由戴安妮·格林（Diane Greene）領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的Google Cloud表現(xiàn)非常出色，我們的機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)硬件和軟件正為每個(gè)人服務(wù)。我們正處于機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)的起步階段，但已經(jīng)預(yù)見到其巨大潛力。Alphabet的許多業(yè)務(wù)都在使用這種技術(shù)，并計(jì)劃更多采用它。
總而言之，我和謝爾蓋會(huì)繼續(xù)尋找新的機(jī)遇，并管理和擴(kuò)大我們現(xiàn)有的努力。我依然看到許多令人驚嘆的機(jī)遇，只是它們還沒有充分發(fā)展起來(lái)，幫助它們騰飛是最令我興奮的事情！
——Alphabet首席執(zhí)行官佩奇
Larry Page highlights new businesses, says he's having a 'good time,' in Alphabet shareholder letter
A is for Alphabet
Hard to believe we are about a quarter short of two years of announcing Alphabet. It's been busy! I certainly feel Alphabet is working well, and as intended (see the original "G is for Google" announcement). At the time, I wrote that "Alphabet is about businesses prospering through strong leaders and independence." The new structure has helped entrepreneurs build and run companies with the autonomy and speed they need.
Sergey and I are working well together on the overall Alphabet direction and providing guidance to the companies. Sundar is doing great as Google CEO. It's certainly a big job and we are very lucky to have him. He'll probably write this letter again in the future as he has in the past, so I won't speak too much for him on the Google related topics in this one. But, I'm excited about how he is leading the company with a focus on machine learning and AI. We took a big step in that direction with the Google Assistant, and built it into a new family of hardware devices like the Pixel and Google Home. There's a lot more to come.
We've had a number of significant things happen on the Alphabet side since I last wrote. A number of our projects became companies, with more autonomy and dedicated leadership.
Waymo is the new self-driving car company formed from Project Chauffeur at X. John Krafcik is the new CEO and brings significant auto industry experience. I love the name and I love even more the excitement you can see when you visit with them! They also formed a partnership with Fiat Chrysler around their new plug-in hybrid Pacifica minivan which I see driving around the Waymo offices with lots of sensors on it. I can't wait until Waymo launches.
Verily Life Sciences launched in December 2015 with Andy Conrad as founding CEO, also coming out of X. They have launched myriad efforts and raised $800M from Temasek, who joined their board and will help with Asian expansion. I'm very fond of their Debug project, which aims to stop mosquitoes in their tracks. It has been running for a while, showing some good foresight because it was started before Zika became a big concern.
In June 2016, Marwan Fawaz became CEO of Nest. He has been doing great against their plan, and we have really been enjoying working with him! I recommend you buy all their excellent products including indoor and outdoor cameras, learning thermostats, and smoke alarms.
Very recently Greg McCray started as CEO of Google Fiber. I've been enjoying working with him and his team and he has rapidly been getting up to speed. He visited all of our Fiber cities so quickly that I think he was still a bit out of breath when he got back to Mountain View! We have made significant investments in bringing gigabit fiber internet to lots of happy customers and I'm excited about our opportunities to do it better.
We have many other efforts within Alphabet. Calico CEO Art Levinson, former CEO of Genentech, is building an amazing research and development company focused on aging. We also have newly branded investment arms, GV (formerly Google Ventures), and CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) which are doing well. Sergey is continuing to spend time working with the X moonshot factory. They have a number of efforts like Wing, which is doing drone delivery. I also can't wait for them to launch!
With the change to Alphabet, oversight has been easier because of increased visibility. We have streamlined efforts where it made sense and in other areas we have seen places to double down. I also think we have learned a lot about how to set up new companies with a structure for success. Our recent launch of Waymo was a great example of our learnings. In general we are taking a patient approach to investing our capital, especially significant uses. We're not going to invest if we don't see great opportunities and we feel like our track record for picking some important efforts long before others is pretty good. Machine learning and all the efforts around Google Brain and Deepmind are good examples. Google Cloud led by Diane Greene is doing a fabulous job of getting our machine learning hardware and software out to everyone. We were early in machine learning and are already seeing significant dividends coming out. Many of the Alphabet companies are already using this technology and are planning to use it even more.
So in conclusion, Sergey and I are having a good time looking for new opportunities and managing and scaling our existing efforts. I still see amazing opportunities that just aren't quite fully developed yet—and helping making them real is what I get excited about.
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