(Reuters) - Alphabet, the Google parent that has pioneered self-driving cars and quantum computing, is making its biggest bet much closer to home: online search.

Applying artificial intelligence to the search business that made Google a household name remains the largest gambit for the company, Ruth Porat, Alphabet's president and chief investment officer, said at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Tuesday.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)