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Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

princeton.edu

11–20 of 42 posts

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#11

look I get it - ivies attract best and brightest and the incentive structure for businesses is such that things like this make sense (as a recruitment tool) but why not drop this kind of program on a good-not-ivy state school? there are so many to pick from (um Ann arbor, ut Austin, UF, stonybrook, CUNY, etc). it's just strikes me as very similar to wealthy donors donating back to ivies - like c'mon what is marginal…

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Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#12
post #8

look I get it - ivies attract best and brightest and the incentive structure for businesses is such that things like this make sense (as a recruitment tool) but why not drop this kind of program on a good-not-ivy state school? there are so many to pick from (um Ann arbor, ut Austin, UF, stonybrook, CUNY, etc). it's just strikes me as very similar to wealthy donors donating back to ivies - like c'mon what is marginal…

There's probably some long-term strategizing going on here, as well. The likelihood of a CS undergrad from Princeton creating their own startup that cuts into Alphabet's margins somewhere is much higher than the probability of a student from a state school doing the same. To speak nothing of the professors...

That most likely has nothing to do with it. These sort of things happen with previous relationships of some faculty with academics inside Google. There is no "long term" play of let's quash the competitors.

Higher ranked schools are often better at research as well, you can get more bang for your buck than lesser ranked schools.

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#13
post #5

look I get it - ivies attract best and brightest and the incentive structure for businesses is such that things like this make sense (as a recruitment tool) but why not drop this kind of program on a good-not-ivy state school? there are so many to pick from (um Ann arbor, ut Austin, UF, stonybrook, CUNY, etc). it's just strikes me as very similar to wealthy donors donating back to ivies - like c'mon what is marginal…

Princeton has an extremely strong mathematics department (possibly the best in the world) plus the IAS is nearby. Perhaps they are looking for close collaboration with pure mathematicians? My understanding is that there are not very strong theoretical underpinnings to most of the machine learning techniques in use today.

> My understanding is that there are not very strong theoretical underpinnings to most of the machine learning techniques in use today.

Yes, particularly with regards to generalization. There's a large number of theorists racing to explain that.

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#14

look I get it - ivies attract best and brightest and the incentive structure for businesses is such that things like this make sense (as a recruitment tool) but why not drop this kind of program on a good-not-ivy state school? there are so many to pick from (um Ann arbor, ut Austin, UF, stonybrook, CUNY, etc). it's just strikes me as very similar to wealthy donors donating back to ivies - like c'mon what is marginal…

[deleted]

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#15

look I get it - ivies attract best and brightest and the incentive structure for businesses is such that things like this make sense (as a recruitment tool) but why not drop this kind of program on a good-not-ivy state school? there are so many to pick from (um Ann arbor, ut Austin, UF, stonybrook, CUNY, etc). it's just strikes me as very similar to wealthy donors donating back to ivies - like c'mon what is marginal…

It's not too surprising. Many Princeton faculty work closely with Google already. Princeton researchers are also known for being very theoretically focused, including the two mentioned in the article. If Google wants to diversity its research groups to include more theorists, then Princeton is a smart choice.

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#16
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably some long-term strategizing going on here, as well. The likelihood of a CS undergrad from Princeton creating their own startup that cuts into Alphabet's margins somewhere is much higher than the probability of a student from a state school doing the same. To speak nothing of the professors...

That most likely has nothing to do with it. These sort of things happen with previous relationships of some faculty with academics inside Google. There is no "long term" play of let's quash the competitors. Higher ranked schools are often better at research as well, you can get more bang for your buck than lesser ranked schools.

> Higher ranked schools are often better at research as well, you can get more bang for your buck than lesser ranked schools.

Note that this depends on what you want for "bang". At less well-heeled schools, a far more modest donation can steer departments etc.

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#17
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That most likely has nothing to do with it. These sort of things happen with previous relationships of some faculty with academics inside Google. There is no "long term" play of let's quash the competitors. Higher ranked schools are often better at research as well, you can get more bang for your buck than lesser ranked schools.

> Higher ranked schools are often better at research as well, you can get more bang for your buck than lesser ranked schools. Note that this depends on what you want for "bang". At less well-heeled schools, a far more modest donation can steer departments etc.

They want collaboration and access to great minds, not influence. Also, every if they did want influence, the ivy pay would make even more sense bc the ivy tail wags the academic dog. Better to influence a generation of future faculty than one Dept of current ones...

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#18
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Higher ranked schools are often better at research as well, you can get more bang for your buck than lesser ranked schools. Note that this depends on what you want for "bang". At less well-heeled schools, a far more modest donation can steer departments etc.

They want collaboration and access to great minds, not influence. Also, every if they did want influence, the ivy pay would make even more sense bc the ivy tail wags the academic dog. Better to influence a generation of future faculty than one Dept of current ones...

"Collaboration and access to great minds" comes from influence. As does the opportunity to shape postdocs and graduate students - the generation of future faculty you're talking about.

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#19

look I get it - ivies attract best and brightest and the incentive structure for businesses is such that things like this make sense (as a recruitment tool) but why not drop this kind of program on a good-not-ivy state school? there are so many to pick from (um Ann arbor, ut Austin, UF, stonybrook, CUNY, etc). it's just strikes me as very similar to wealthy donors donating back to ivies - like c'mon what is marginal…

Google already has offices in Austin and Ann Arbor.

On the scale of things academics are pretty cheap so they can afford to have lots of offices and cover the top 20 schools. Really they should have one in New Haven as well.

The prestige thing is not as important (I believe). For instance they had offices in Austin and Ann Arbor before Princeton NJ.

The prestige thing is only important for client facing roles (McKinsey or Goldman want to assure the money people that they are in good hands).

Re: Google to open artificial intelligence lab in Princeton

#20

look I get it - ivies attract best and brightest and the incentive structure for businesses is such that things like this make sense (as a recruitment tool) but why not drop this kind of program on a good-not-ivy state school? there are so many to pick from (um Ann arbor, ut Austin, UF, stonybrook, CUNY, etc). it's just strikes me as very similar to wealthy donors donating back to ivies - like c'mon what is marginal…

Google already has offices in Austin and Ann Arbor. On the scale of things academics are pretty cheap so they can afford to have lots of offices and cover the top 20 schools. Really they should have one in New Haven as well. The prestige thing is not as important (I believe). For instance they had offices in Austin and Ann Arbor before Princeton NJ. The prestige thing is only important for client facing roles (McKins…

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