The head of Alexa AI is now working at Google

Ashwin Ram is now Google Cloud's Technical Director of AI.

Amazon's got a lot of people working on Alexa at any given moment, but one of its top employees has officially left for a position at Google. According to a LinkedIn post, Alexa AI's head of research – Ashwin Ram – is Google Cloud's new Technical Director of AI.

Per Ram's post:

Excited to share that I'm joining Google Cloud as Technical Director of AI in the Office of the CTO. Google arguably has the best AI on the planet; my role will be to help make that AI even better and broadly available to everyone.

I've had an awesome couple of years at Amazon Alexa working with some of the smartest people I know. Delighted to have had the opportunity to create and lead Alexa Prize and to experience this legendary Day 1 company from the inside.

Although Google Cloud isn't a consumer-facing product, it does power various aspects of services like YouTube and Google Search. Amazon hasn't announced who will be replacing Ram's position, but either way, this is a pretty solid win for Google in its quest to be the best at AI.

Shortly before Ram's departure, it was announced that Amazon had purchased smart doorbell/floodlight maker Ring — just a couple months after it purchased Ring competitor Blink. Amazon's hitting the connected-world with full force, and while Ram's absence won't necessarily help the company, it certainly won't stop it from chugging along with everything it's got.

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