'The Infinity Machine' reveals Google shut DeepMind secret hedge fund
Turns out, DeepMind, the AI team owned by Google, quietly tried to start its own high-speed trading hedge fund.
Led by CEO Demis Hassabis and about 20 researchers, they worked on trading algorithms behind the scenes.
But when Google found out, the project was quickly shut down, as revealed in Sebastian Mallaby's book The Infinity Machine.
Project Mario attracted Reid Hoffman $1B
This secret hedge fund was just one way DeepMind hoped to break free from Google's control and rival big names like Renaissance Technologies.
They also pitched Project Mario, a plan for DeepMind to become an independent company with its own board (even attracting a $1 billion offer from Reid Hoffman).
In the end, though, Google's leadership said no. The whole saga shows how tough it's been for DeepMind to carve out its own path within such a massive tech company.