Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, was recently a guest on “The Circuit With Emily Chang” and had an in-depth interview with the host. He said that AI is still in the early stages of development and believes that Google will eventually win this war, just as Google was not the first company to do search.
Pichai also believes that smartphones will be the core platform for AI innovation, followed by wearable devices such as smart glasses. As for whether Google needs to be broken up, Pichai said that Google's current strategy promotes innovation and increases market options, and there is no need to break up the company.
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1.AI is still in its early stages, don’t be afraid of OpenAI
Pichai said AI has been a focus for Alphabet since 2016, when ChatGPT developer OpenAI was in its infancy. Yet, somehow, Google missed its big chatbot moment and has been playing catch-up ever since.
But Pichai seemed unfazed, saying: “We're not the first company to do search, we're not the first company to offer email, we're not the first company to build a browser. So, I think AI is at its earliest possible stage.”
In other words, Pichai is playing the long game to catch the big fish. Google has plenty of time to win, he said.
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2. Don’t worry about AI-generated data destroying search
In December last year, Google launched the AI model Gemini, which can simultaneously recognize five types of information: text, images, audio, video and code, and can also understand and generate high-quality code.
But in its early stages, Gemini generated many false historical images that Pichai said were unacceptable. In fact, this situation is not limited to Google, the entire industry faces similar problems.
When asked if he was “concerned that AI-generated content may disrupt search,” Pichai said that it is both a challenge and an opportunity for everyone to distinguish between objectivity and truth in a world filled with a large amount of synthetic content. .
He believes this will be part of the defining search of the next decade. He said it had become a common search pattern for people to use Google to verify content they had seen elsewhere. Google is making progress on this front, but it will be an ongoing process.
3.Consider yourself a qualified leader
There are different opinions on Pichai's leadership style: some say he is stable and cautious, while others think he is slow and conservative. When asked, “Do you think you are the right person to lead Google?” Pichai said he was confident he could do the job.
He also said that after he became Google CEO, he immediately made major decisions to shift the company's focus to AI, significantly increased investment in YouTube and cloud computing, and pushed them to their peak.
He said: “I have put in a lot of effort at Google, and at least from my personal perspective, I am convinced that I am qualified for this role.”
4.Why not have a complete mass layoff?
Google has recently conducted several rounds of small-scale layoffs, including laying off at least hundreds of employees in some “core” teams.
When asked, “Why adopt this gradual reduction strategy instead of a complete large-scale layoff to achieve the goal faster?” Pichai said that Google needs to spend time to handle layoffs in a correct and proper way. question.
He said: “We are reallocating people and deploying them to the highest priority tasks. In some cases, we need to simplify team structures, move talent to new areas and eliminate unnecessary layers to improve overall efficiency.”
5.Is the culture of “20% time” a privilege?
As we all know, Google advocates a “20% time” policy that allows employees to devote 20% of their working time to projects of personal interest. This policy has also inspired some innovative products, such as Gmail and AdSense.
But could this culture go to extremes? For example, is it possible that it has become a culture of privilege?
Pichai said that what makes Google unique is that it has a culture that is vibrant, open and encourages debate. Therefore, it is crucial to preserve this culture. At the same time, Google is also a company where employees have multiple ways to express their voices, and this diversity will also make the company better.
6.Will not be led by Microsoft's nose
Microsoft has made huge investments in the field of AI, including investments in companies such as OpenAI, Inflection and Mistral. There are reports that Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI was partly due to concerns about Google.
Regarding this competitive situation, Pichai believes that competition in the technology field is inevitable and usually very fierce, and Google has become accustomed to it. Pichai said the key to staying ahead of the curve is to continue to innovate.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has made some challenging words: “I hope that through our innovation, they (competitors such as Google) will be forced to stand up to show that they can dance too. “I want people to know that we make them jump.”
So, in this dance, who is really choosing the music? Pichai said: “One of the ways to do something wrong is to blindly follow the noise of the outside world and be led by other people’s dance music. I have always had my own direction and know exactly what I need to do. We have our own dance music. “
7.Google doesn’t need to break up
In the United States and many international markets, Google’s search, video, advertising and app stores dominate and have attracted regulatory attention. Some large companies have focused on their core businesses through spin-offs. Does Google also have such plans?
Pichai believes that Google's current strategy drives innovation and increases market options. Therefore, there is no need to break up the company.
He said: “The reason why many of our products create value for users is because they are presented in an integrated manner, which is critical. For example, part of Google's competitiveness in the cloud computing market stems from its achievements in the field of AI. Investments, in turn, benefit from Google’s accumulation in the search field, which allows Google to use these results to compete with large companies such as Amazon and Microsoft in the field of cloud computing.”
8.Smartphones are the core platform for AI innovation
Currently, technology companies such as Apple and Meta are taking advantage of the AI craze to launch their own hardware products, and Google has also launched its own AI processor. So how will AI-driven hardware develop in the future? What role will Google play?
Pichai said that with the power of AI, we will have the opportunity to rethink various experiences in the next few years. He said that smartphones will be the core platform for AI innovation to occur, followed by wearable devices such as smart glasses.