Research@ Sydney: Charting new AI frontiers alongside the research ecosystem in Australia

The wave of AI innovation sweeping across the world is unprecedented, and Australia is a shining example of the opportunity it presents to fundamentally improve the lives of millions. From enabling accessible services through speech recognition to providing instant translations in over 100 languages, and understanding the landscapes of agricultural farms by analysing satellite imagery, we can already see early signs of AI's transformative impact.

And locally, it's been over three years and more than 10 projects since we first announced Google's $1 billion investment in Australian infrastructure, research, and partnerships to build a stronger digital future for all Australians, through the Digital Future Initiative.

At Google, we have had a long-standing commitment to advancing the state of the art by focusing on fundamental research and approaches that delve into finding solutions to many of society’s most pressing challenges. Collaboration among diverse communities working on common challenges is key to truly fueling progress in the development of these important approaches.

Embodying this collaborative spirit, we recently hosted our first-ever Research@ event in Sydney, Australia, which brought together leading faculty, students and industry researchers. Research@ is a 'for Researcher, by Researcher' global event series that was designed to connect researchers in conversation with one another. The local event aimed to foster knowledge sharing among our leading practitioners and researchers, aiming to explore the next frontier of technology in Australia, delve into local solutions, and chart a course for using AI to create a better future.

Attending the event in person, we had Katherine Chou, Head of Product & UX for Google Research, along with other Google leaders who discussed the future of AI and its implications for Australia.

Katherine asked attendees to take on a challenge: “See the forest for the trees. Or, here, I made up a new saying which is: to see the neuron for the synapses. Simply put, see the bigger picture of the tech you are crafting. How it impacts access, affordability and quality. You can change the world by taking breakthrough tech, and applying it or shaping it thoughtfully.”

We also talked about our Aboriginal English Voices project with the University of Western Australia, multilinguality and how we support languages of the world, the Hearing Initiative, operations research as well as Open Models and more.

With its vast talent pool and diversity, we believe Australia stands poised to spearhead AI innovation for the world. Fully realising this potential demands collaborative efforts across the AI landscape and utilising interdisciplinary research to tackle society's most urgent challenges. With a shared commitment to responsible and ethical AI development, we look forward to collaborating with local communities to harness AI responsibly and together shape Australia’s digital future.