Ray Kurzweil, the famed inventor and futurist, said today that he would join Google, starting Monday, to work on “some of the hardest problems in computer science.”

Kurzweil’s title will be director of engineering. In a long statement on his Web site, he said he would focus on machine learning and language processing:

“I’ve been interested in technology, and machine learning in particular, for a long time: when I was 14, I designed software that wrote original music, and later went on to invent the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, among other inventions. I’ve always worked to create practical systems that will make a difference in people’s lives, which is what excites me as an inventor. […]