Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google, are riding high, with their combined fortunes swelling by $18 billion due to the search engine's artificial intelligence frenzy this week, which boosted the company's stock.
What Happened: During Google I/O, the annual developer conference, this week, the company unveiled a revamped search engine — which integrates an AI chatbot's responses into search results — and made its chatbot available more widely.
Page and Brin have been the beneficiaries of the AI frenzy, with their fortunes swelling this week. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Page's net worth skyrocketed by $9.4 billion to $106.9 billion, while Brin's rose by $8.9 billion to $102.1 billion. Since February 2021, this has been their biggest weekly gain.
Page and Brin, who have been helping with the AI push and are more actively involved in the business than they have been in years, are among the biggest gainers of 2023 after adding more than $22 billion each. They are, at present, the eighth- and ninth-richest persons in the world, respectively, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
See Also: Google’s Swipe At Apple Over Texting Standards Draws Chuckles, Claps At I/O 2023
Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, too, has benefited from the push for AI. This week, Schmidt’s net worth increased by $1.8 billion. Schmidt, who has invested in a number of businesses in AI, has advocated for the continuance of rapid research and development in the field.
Why It Matters: The increased use of AI in Google’s search engine and chatbot services is significant because it highlights the company’s continued efforts to lead in the field.
PaLM 2, Google’s most recent large language model, was one of the Google I/O conference’s most important announcements. It will serve as the backbone for all of the company’s AI services, including the Bard chat feature.
Price Action: As a result of these announcements, shares of Alphabet rose almost 1% in New York on Friday after surging 8.6% in the two days through Thursday.
Read Next: Is Google Bard Better Than ChatGPT? 8 Capabilities Exclusive To OpenAI’s Chatbot Rival
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