重磅|佩奇致股东公开信：除了谷歌，Alphabet还做了啥？
概要：谷歌或许是拉里·佩奇最著名的项目，但Alphabet的“其他赌注”成为其2016年致股东信中的焦点。
来源：全球人工智能
据CNBC报道，谷歌或许是拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）最著名的项目，但Alphabet的“其他赌注”成为其2016年致股东信中的焦点。他写道：“这种新结构已经帮助企业家们自主、快速地创建和运营公司。”
Alphabet旗下无人驾驶汽车子公司Waymo、生命科学子公司Verily以及智能家居平台Nest都在致股东信中被凸显出来。这封信旨在庆祝谷歌宣布充足2年来取得的里程碑。佩奇写道：“我们已经进行了有意义的精简努力，我认为我们已经学到了许多东西，包括如何通过结构调整建立新公司。我们最近推出的Waymo就是个不错的尝试。”
佩奇还强调了谷歌核心搜索业务与Alphabet其他诸多项目之间的联系通道，即人工智能（AI）。他写道：“我们正处于机器学习的起步阶段，但已经预见到其巨大潜力。Alphabet的许多业务都在使用这种技术，并计划更多采用它。”
以下为佩奇致股东信全文：
A代表着Alphabet，很难相信我们已经在改组成立Alphabet2年后，又度过了1个季度。这段时间非常忙碌，但我觉得Alphabet的运行非常顺畅，就像预期那样。当时我曾写道：“Alphabet会在强有力的领导和独立情况下繁荣起来。”这种新结构已经帮助企业家们自主、快速地创建和运营公司。
谢尔盖（Sergey）和我在Alphabet的整体方向上配合默契，同时为这些公司提供指导。桑达尔（Sundar）是非常棒的谷歌首席执行官，那是非常重要的工作，我们非常幸运能依赖他。将来，他也可能像过去那样发表致股东信，为此我在此不会太多谈及与谷歌相关主题的话题。但是我很高兴，他正带领公司专注于机器学习和人工智能。我们利用Google Assistant沿着这个方向迈出了一大步，并将其植入到许多硬件设备中，比如智能手机Pixel和智能扬声器Google Home等。此外，还有更多设备和服务将引入这种智能助理。
自从我上次发布致股东信以来，Alphabet内部已经发生了很多事情。我们的许多项目都被拆分成独立公司，有了更大自主性和专门的领导者。Waymo是新的无人驾驶汽车，它脱胎于X实验室的Project Chauffeur项目。约翰·克拉弗西克（John Krafcik）担任新的首席执行官，并带来丰富的汽车行业经验。我喜欢这个名字，但我更喜欢你们参观Waymo展现出的兴奋。Waymo正与菲亚特-克莱斯勒达成合作关系，对后者的插电式混合动力汽车Pacifica进行改造，我看到它身上有很多传感器，并在Waymo办公室中转来转去，我已经不迫不及待地看到它被投入市场了。
Verily Life Sciences是2015年12月份成立的，以安迪·康拉德（Andy Conrad）为首任首席执行官，它也源自X实验室。 这个团队已经非常努力，并从Temasek处获得8亿美元投资，后者也加入了Verily董事会，并帮助在亚洲扩张。我很喜欢他们的Debug项目，其目标是帮助消灭蚊子。这家公司已经运行了一段时间，显示出良好的远见，因为它在寨卡病毒大爆发之前就已经开始项目研究。
2016年6月份，马尔文·法瓦兹（Marwan Fawaz）成为Nest的首席执行官。我们都非常喜欢能与他共事，我推荐你购买他们开发出的所有产品，包括室内和户外摄像头、智能恒温器以及烟雾警报等。
最近，格雷格·麦克雷（Greg McCray）被任命为Google Fiber的首席执行官。我很喜欢与他及其团队共同工作，他已经迅速进入角色。麦克雷视察了我们所有推出Google Fiber服务的城市，为此我认为他在返回山景城总部时，可能会提出自己的大计划。为了向人们提供千兆光纤网络服务，我们已经已经投入巨资，我很高兴我们能有机会做得更好。
在Alphabet内部，我们还有许多其他项目。Calico首席执行官亚特·莱文森（Art Levinson）正创建惊人的研发公司，专注于对抗衰老。我们还成立了新的投资机构GV (前身是Google Ventures)、CapitalG (前身是Google Capital) ，它们的表现也都非常棒。谢尔盖继续领导X的“moonshot工厂”，他们有许多项目，比如递送无人机Wing，我已经等不及看到它面世。
随着Alphabet的变化，监督变得更容易，因为透明度大幅提高。我们已经进行了有意义的精简努力，我认为我们已经学到了许多东西，包括如何通过结构调整建立新公司。我们最近推出的Waymo就是个不错的尝试。总的来说，我们正耐心地进行资本投资，尤其是特别重要的领域。如果我们没有看到太大机遇，我们就不会投资。我们觉得，在其他人干得不错之前，我们必须提前进行努力。机器学习和围绕Google Brain、Deepmind进行的所有努力就是最佳例证。
由戴安妮·格林（Diane Greene）领导的Google Cloud表现非常出色，我们的机器学习硬件和软件正为每个人服务。我们正处于机器学习的起步阶段，但已经预见到其巨大潜力。Alphabet的许多业务都在使用这种技术，并计划更多采用它。
总而言之，我和谢尔盖会继续寻找新的机遇，并管理和扩大我们现有的努力。我依然看到许多令人惊叹的机遇，只是它们还没有充分发展起来，帮助它们腾飞是最令我兴奋的事情！
——Alphabet首席执行官佩奇
Larry Page highlights new businesses, says he's having a 'good time,' in Alphabet shareholder letter
A is for Alphabet
Hard to believe we are about a quarter short of two years of announcing Alphabet. It's been busy! I certainly feel Alphabet is working well, and as intended (see the original "G is for Google" announcement). At the time, I wrote that "Alphabet is about businesses prospering through strong leaders and independence." The new structure has helped entrepreneurs build and run companies with the autonomy and speed they need.
Sergey and I are working well together on the overall Alphabet direction and providing guidance to the companies. Sundar is doing great as Google CEO. It's certainly a big job and we are very lucky to have him. He'll probably write this letter again in the future as he has in the past, so I won't speak too much for him on the Google related topics in this one. But, I'm excited about how he is leading the company with a focus on machine learning and AI. We took a big step in that direction with the Google Assistant, and built it into a new family of hardware devices like the Pixel and Google Home. There's a lot more to come.
We've had a number of significant things happen on the Alphabet side since I last wrote. A number of our projects became companies, with more autonomy and dedicated leadership.
Waymo is the new self-driving car company formed from Project Chauffeur at X. John Krafcik is the new CEO and brings significant auto industry experience. I love the name and I love even more the excitement you can see when you visit with them! They also formed a partnership with Fiat Chrysler around their new plug-in hybrid Pacifica minivan which I see driving around the Waymo offices with lots of sensors on it. I can't wait until Waymo launches.
Verily Life Sciences launched in December 2015 with Andy Conrad as founding CEO, also coming out of X. They have launched myriad efforts and raised $800M from Temasek, who joined their board and will help with Asian expansion. I'm very fond of their Debug project, which aims to stop mosquitoes in their tracks. It has been running for a while, showing some good foresight because it was started before Zika became a big concern.
In June 2016, Marwan Fawaz became CEO of Nest. He has been doing great against their plan, and we have really been enjoying working with him! I recommend you buy all their excellent products including indoor and outdoor cameras, learning thermostats, and smoke alarms.
Very recently Greg McCray started as CEO of Google Fiber. I've been enjoying working with him and his team and he has rapidly been getting up to speed. He visited all of our Fiber cities so quickly that I think he was still a bit out of breath when he got back to Mountain View! We have made significant investments in bringing gigabit fiber internet to lots of happy customers and I'm excited about our opportunities to do it better.
We have many other efforts within Alphabet. Calico CEO Art Levinson, former CEO of Genentech, is building an amazing research and development company focused on aging. We also have newly branded investment arms, GV (formerly Google Ventures), and CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) which are doing well. Sergey is continuing to spend time working with the X moonshot factory. They have a number of efforts like Wing, which is doing drone delivery. I also can't wait for them to launch!
With the change to Alphabet, oversight has been easier because of increased visibility. We have streamlined efforts where it made sense and in other areas we have seen places to double down. I also think we have learned a lot about how to set up new companies with a structure for success. Our recent launch of Waymo was a great example of our learnings. In general we are taking a patient approach to investing our capital, especially significant uses. We're not going to invest if we don't see great opportunities and we feel like our track record for picking some important efforts long before others is pretty good. Machine learning and all the efforts around Google Brain and Deepmind are good examples. Google Cloud led by Diane Greene is doing a fabulous job of getting our machine learning hardware and software out to everyone. We were early in machine learning and are already seeing significant dividends coming out. Many of the Alphabet companies are already using this technology and are planning to use it even more.
So in conclusion, Sergey and I are having a good time looking for new opportunities and managing and scaling our existing efforts. I still see amazing opportunities that just aren't quite fully developed yet—and helping making them real is what I get excited about.
来源：全球人工智能
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