Google will reach where none reached yet: Amit Singhal
-TOI.
Although people can travel you the moon’s surface without leaving their armchairs, search engine developments are so far just ‘baby steps’ to ‘the holy grail of search’, Singhal told AFP in a rare interview.
Singhal, age 44, has been of a kind of great contributor to internet since he joined Google as developer of Google Search Engine in 2000, you know well at the time when internet was limited to the Nano kind atmosphere and a whole lot of restrictions!
The “Google fellow”- the title thrown upon the top thinkers by California company believes that the world of “knowledge on demand” will endow slowly without being noticed when people will be served before they wish for; using the technology of speech recognition, touch remembrance, artificial intelligence of course!
The search engine of the future will be the “perfect personal assistant giving you the benefits of all technical knowledge, enhancing your thought process”, he said. Though some scientist fire their theories that this would actually create the world having peoples who have short attention spans, lazy minds and reduced capacity of information remembrance, Singhal doesn’t seem to be paying much heed to the thought.
“People always worry about change. We have to teach people to swim with the flow of technology, not against it,” he said.
“There were worries about Gutenberg printing press- that it would destroy the beauty of spoken words, but we are far better off with the knowledge it’s brought.”
“People worried TV would stop people reading books but that hasn’t happened.”
“The internet has made people more productive- removing barriers to getting information barriers,” he said.
Sticking to the data part, Google answers millions of question per day asked in more than 110 languages. Singhal’s vision has helped Google making it the most visited search engine, eventually the most profitable company around the Globe. “These are immensely exciting times” with search technology “going through an exponential period” of change, he said.
“Ultimately I believe that this will give mankind healthier, happier lives, not just through wearable technology, but the sum total of information that will be within our reach to improve lives.”
Upon being asked the inspiration source of this technological path to the future search engine, with a smile he said, “Star Trek.” Singhal exposed himself to the popular show during his childhood days in Uttrakhand. He was so serious about the show that he repeatedly watched them to learn dialogues by heart!
This show, has inspired his dream about the future where a computer like one of Starship Enterprise could provide any information immediately. He is a graduate form IIT and Cornell University. These stages of his life exactly provided him with the background he needed.
“I imagine a future where a starship computer would be able to answer any question I might ask, instantly.”
“We are closer to that dream than I ever thought possible during my working life,” he said, also stating that he was “blessed to do something I love.”
Singhal is currently the incharge of Google Algorithms, which decides how best to retrieve information and answer questions. His team tests thousands of algorithms every year; adjusting, tweaking and inventing. The key is ranking information, giving the most pertinent answer first. The more Google keeps its users happy, the more it stands apart and first from other search engines.
Just as USS Enterprise Captain James Kirk never had to type a question into the spaceship’s computer, asking it question aloud instead, and Singhal looks forward to do the same with better voice recognition.
Singhal was in New Delhi to announce launch of Google’s new Hindi Language content website.
Nearly all of India’s 198 million English speakers are already online and Google hopes the local language website will add 300 million more internet users.
#Source: TOI.
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