Google Goes to China, Making Play for Talent and Attention
May 25 2017 - 5:54AM
Dow Jones News
By Liza Lin in Wuzhen, China and Jack Nicas in San Francisco
A friendly game of Go in the picturesque city of Wuzhen this
week has given Google an opening to return to China's good graces,
seven years after it left the country over government censorship of
its namesake search engine and hacks of its Gmail service.
Few companies can match Google for its global reach, with
billions of people hooked on its products. Yet China manages
without it, leaving a gaping hole in the global map for the Silicon
Valley giant and its parent, Alphabet Inc., as they expand into
driverless cars, cloud-computing products and other technologies
made possible by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, or
AI.
On the surface, the Google entourage was here for a three-game
Go rematch between its AlphaGo computer program and Ke Jie, China's
19-year-old world champion. After two matches, AlphaGo is up 2-0,
with a final game set for Saturday.
Beyond the contest, the event allowed Google to be seen in a
country that is significant for its long-term business prospects,
and to forge relationships with Chinese government officials who
could play pivotal roles in that respect. Wuzhen is also the venue
for a high-profile internet conference convened annually by the
Cyberspace Administration of China.
Near-term, the AlphaGo event was a chance for Google to raise
its profile with China's young engineering talent, who are much in
demand as rivals such as Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc. and Chinese
internet firm Baidu Inc. ramp up their ambitions in products
dependent on advanced AI technology, such as facial
recognition.
Two of Google's top AI executives in its cloud unit are Chinese
women: Fei-Fei Li and Jia Li, the former head of research at
messaging firm Snap Inc.
AI talent in China has "significantly increased in quality and
number of top talents," said Ms. Jia, who attended the Wuzhen
event. She said Google is looking to hire AI engineers in China to
add to the more than 500 staff in Beijing and Shanghai. Although
its main products are blocked, Google still runs an online
advertising business in mainland China, helping Chinese and
international firms to market their business overseas and on some
local platforms.
Hiring Chinese engineers will likely be easier than winning over
the country's regulators and consumers, given lingering bitterness
over Google's 2010 departure, when Google co-founder Sergey Brin
became an outspoken critic of China's government.
In a sign of the importance Google placed on the event, Alphabet
Chairman Eric Schmidt made his first public China appearance here
since 2015, joined by star Google scientists including Demis
Hassabis and Jeff Dean.
Google worked with the provincial government in the Wuzhen
region to stage the event, but no Chinese internet services
live-streamed the event. People familiar with the situation said
streaming plans were dropped at the last minute for reasons that
weren't clear.
Google remains interested in expanding its presence in China,
but it recognizes the challenges and is moving slowly, according to
a person familiar with the company's thinking. Google recently
introduced its Translate app into China and is working to bring in
more Android apps over the next year, this person said.
There are many business reasons to return. China is a dark spot
for Google Cloud, its business of running companies' systems and
data on its computers. In a regulatory filing, Snap Inc. noted that
it has "very limited access to the China market" in part because
"access to Google, which currently powers our infrastructure, is
restricted in China."
In hardware, Google recently launched new flagship smartphones
and a smart talking speaker. But the key selling points of those
devices are their Google services, such as Google's virtual
assistant, which are blocked in China, and these products aren't
available there.
Self-driving cars also face obstacles because China only allows
local companies to collect high-definition map data--citing
national-security reasons--shutting Alphabet and other U.S. firms
out of collecting crucial data.
Government restrictions aside, a potentially greater challenge
is the aggressive expansion by Chinese competitors Alibaba Group
Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu since Google left the
country.
"The Chinese software landscape has changed significantly since
Google's departure," a former Google China executive said.
"Re-entry is not simply a matter of government approval, but
winning over users."
Chen Chao, a 30-year-old project manager at a Chinese technology
startup, said he was impressed by Google's innovations after
attending the Go event. Yet the former Gmail and Google search user
said he would unlikely switch back to Google products even if they
were available, having found Chinese services that meet his
needs.
"When Google was shut out from China," Mr. Chen said, "a lot of
Chinese internet companies came in to fill the hole they left."
Write to Liza Lin at Liza.Lin@wsj.com and Jack Nicas at
jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 25, 2017 05:39 ET (09:39 GMT)
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