DeepMind and Google Brain previously collaborated project by project, and now collaborate more deeply and broadly.

Judged as of 2024-02-28. The claim has two parts: (a) before the merger, DeepMind and Google Brain worked together mainly project by project; (b) by February 2024, after the April 2023 merger into Google DeepMind, they worked together more deeply and broadly. True: credible accounts support both parts, for example records of only occasional joint projects before 2023, and a combined unit with shared leadership, teams and flagship projects such as Gemini afterwards. Mostly true: both parts hold in substance, but the earlier collaboration was somewhat more or less than 'project-by-project' suggests. Mixed: one part is clearly supported and the other is not (for example, earlier collaboration was already deep and ongoing). Mostly false: the picture is substantially distorted, for example the two groups barely collaborated before, or the merged teams stayed largely separate in practice. False: the evidence shows the opposite on both counts.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Read the internal memo Alphabet sent in merging A.I.-focused groups DeepMind and Google Brain CNBC · 20 April 2023

   “DeepMind has been able to operate separate from Google’s core research, enabling it to move quicker on breakthroughs like AlphaFold, which can predict 3D models of protein structures.”

2. E2 Read the internal memo Alphabet sent in merging A.I.-focused groups DeepMind and Google Brain CNBC · 20 April 2023

   “The two divisions have also reportedly had tensions in the past, leading DeepMind to seek more independence.”

3. E3 How Google's Gemini AI model got its name THE DECODER · 10 December 2023

   “The Gemini effort came about because we had different teams working on language modeling, and we knew we wanted to start to work together”

4. E4 How Google's Gemini AI model got its name THE DECODER · 10 December 2023

   “Together, they tackled a multimodal project that Google unveiled a few days ago under the name Gemini, and which Dean says eventually attracted "many people from all across Google."”

For the period before the merger, CNBC reported that DeepMind ran separately from Google's core research and that the two divisions had past tensions, with DeepMind seeking more independence (E1, E2). Jeff Dean is quoted as saying that separate teams were working on language modeling before the groups decided to start working together (E3). That fits a limited, project-level relationship, though none of the evidence documents specific joint projects from before the merger. The Decoder reports that teams together tackled the multimodal Gemini project, which drew people from across Google (E4). Both parts of the claim hold in substance, but the earlier collaboration may have been even thinner than "always collaborating" suggests.