Think we’ll have artifical intelligence by 2029? Ray Kurzweil does. He is simultaneously idolized and infamous for saying so. And now he will put his ideas to the test. On Friday, Kurzweil announced he’s accepted a position with technology giant Google as Director of Engineering. Like all things exponential, the new relationship is on the fast track—he starts Monday.

Singularity Hub reached out to Kurzweil to learn what he and Google aim to accomplish. He told us, “We hope to combine my fifty years of experience in thinking about thinking with Google scale resources (in everything — engineering, computing, communications, data, users) to create truly useful AI that will make all of us smarter.” […]