Google parent company Alphabet closes Edmonton office for DeepMind, consolidating across Canada

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Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. is closing its AI research office for DeepMind Technologies Ltd. in Edmonton, as the tech giant announced it was cutting about 12,000 jobs worldwide as a reduction measure in costs at the end of last week.

DeepMind, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet GOOGL-Q, is consolidating across Canada, a spokesperson told The Globe and Mail. The company is based in the UK, where it is also laying off some of its operational staff.

The Toronto and Montreal offices, which are located inside Google’s offices, will continue to operate as normal, DeepMind said.

DeepMinds researchers in Edmonton were offered the option of moving to another office in Canada or elsewhere. The company, acquired by Google in 2014, has research centers in Canada, France and the United States.

Edmonton is the only DeepMind international site managed directly by the subsidiary. The rest is all in buildings managed by Google. That meant Edmonton was far more resource-intensive to operate than other DeepMinds locations, a spokesperson said.

The Edmonton location for DeepMind launched in the summer of 2017 to much fanfare. It has been lauded by politicians of all stripes and seen as a boon to Alberta’s economy, where it has also partnered with the University of Alberta.

And there’s more.

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