” Teaching computers to understand casual, contextual conversation in every language and accent is key to this quest to normalise our interactions with computers and to place Google even more squarely at the centre of our lives.
 Achieving this would require solving complex computational problems, and Google is investing vast amounts in machine learning - a form of artificial intelligence (AI).
 This is central to the company’s long term future; it permeates everything it now does.
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 The rate has reached an inflection point.
” To some, Google’s strategy will seem terrifying: won't artificial intelligence end up automating all jobs, and, in extremis, lead to a Terminator-style dystopia where machines take control?
 Google is hoping to pioneer post-mobile computing with products such as the speaker-based Google Home Google is hoping to pioneer post-mobile computing with products such as the speaker-based Google Home Credit: Getty Images The Google boss believes that the benefits of harnessing AI will be much greater than the costs and that the changes will take decades, allowing societies to adapt.
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 It's shocking to see.
 I look at that and I think: can machine learning and artificial intelligence make progress on these things?
 In my mind, the answer is yes.
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 But it’s a force for making people’s lives better.
 It's also an incredibly democratising force over time" He also believes that his “assistant” project, and the progress of artificial intelligence, will make it easier to protect privacy, another controversial area for the tech industry.
 “Today's software is difficult.
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 Or take Google Translate: the app, using a phone’s camera, now “reads” Russian or Mandarin and instantly translates the characters into English.
 There is no immediate monetisation mechanism for any of these projects, but they all form part of the company’s mission to apply machine learning and artificial intelligence to as many problems as possible.
 Refreshingly, the Google chief is careful not to express a view on Brexit.