Google names London office ‘Platform 37’ in a nod to railway neighbour, AI ‘Go’ match

LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) – Google has named its new London headquarters “Platform 37” in a nod to its neighbour, King’s Cross railway station, and “Move 37” – a pivotal play made by DeepMind’s AI system AlphaGo in a legendary match of the ancient boardgame Go against world champion Lee Sae Dol.

Teams from Google and Google DeepMind, the company’s AI research laboratory, will begin to move into Platform 37 in the summer, Google said.

“Move 37”, played by AlphaGo almost 10 years ago to the day, was so unconventional human experts initially thought it was a mistake, Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind Co-Founder and CEO, said in a blog post about the building’s new name on Thursday.

But as the game unfolded, it became clear it enabled AlphaGo to win. 

“AlphaGo’s victory heralded the beginning of what is now recognised as the modern era in AI,” he said.

The building, designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels, stretches 330 metres adjacent to the railway tracks leading to King’s Cross. Dubbed a “landscraper”, it is longer than London’s 310-metre Shard skyscraper is tall.

Platform 37, Google’s first wholly owned and designed building outside the United States, has had a long gestation since it was announced in 2013, including delays in fit out.

Google said it would open “The AI Exchange”, a community space where people can learn about AI, in the building later this year.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young)