Jeff Dean, the head scientist at Google and co-lead of Gemini, recently shared the origin of the name Gemini, stating that it is derived from the Latin word for “twins.” This choice reflects the collaboration between Google Brain and DeepMind, which merged their teams to create the groundbreaking Google DeepMind project. Previously, Google had two separate AI teams, Google Brain (PaLM/PaLM2) and DeepMind (with their Chinchilla model). However, the decision was made to bring these teams together, leveraging their resources and expertise to develop joint models.
Additionally, Jeff Dean mentioned that Gemini also refers to a NASA project from the 1960s. This project played a pivotal role in the history of space exploration, sitting between two iconic missions: Mercury, which sent humans into space, and Apollo, which successfully landed humans on the moon. The significance of the name Gemini lies in its role as a bridge between these monumental moments.
The Gemini project at Google includes Jeff Dean from the original Google Brain team and Oriol Vinyals from the original DeepMind team, both serving as overall technical leads. By combining the talents and knowledge of these individuals, Gemini aims to unite the legacy Brain and DeepMind teams, propelling language modeling to new heights.
TLDR: Gemini, the name chosen for Google’s collaborative project between Brain and DeepMind, represents the merging of two AI teams and the synergistic efforts behind Google DeepMind. Additionally, the name pays homage to NASA’s Gemini project from the 1960s, symbolizing its role as a bridge between historic space missions. Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals lead the Gemini project, aiming to push the boundaries of language modeling.
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