In 2014 Google acquired London based DeepMind which they have turned into the single largest collection of brain power and resources focused solely on the development of artificial intelligence. They have over 250 PhDs working with essentially unlimited funding and resources.

DeepMind has two goals. One, try to solve intelligence. Two, use that to do everything else.

In step one they are first trying to figure out how the human brain allowed us to take over the planet. To do that they have scores of neuroscientists and psychologists and cognitive scientists hacking away at our best theories of how our brains work and disseminating that to computer scientists who try to recreate that ability in silicon chips.

In step two they plan to apply that to everything else. Very literally, everything else. If they accomplish this, it will make Google the most powerful entity on Earth.

This is not some clandestine plan that they are hatching underneath a volcano, this is the explicit goal of the company and they frequently talk about it openly to anybody who cares to listen. For more I strongly encourage listening to the latest talk from Demis Hassabis, founder of DeepMind, who lays this plan out clear as day.