Here's a collection of quotes from the triumvirate about artificial intelligence.

http://ignoranceisfutile.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/google-fou...

(Except, ignore the Moffett field thing. That has nothing to do with AI research as far as I know.)

Anyway, any Googler will confirm that Sergey Brin, in particular, keeps returning to this idea: that Google's ultimate destiny is to realize Strong AI.

I'm not saying they've achieved anything. But I would not be surprised if they were putting substantial resources into it. It's even directly related to their bottom line. It doesn't have to end in HAL 9000. They may come up with some technology that is just more insightful about search queries. But even that would be worth billions and billions.