Google has a clear sense of what it needs to do: Sundar Pichai

Pichai tells Satya Nadella, fellow Indian American CEO of Microsoft, doesn’t plan “playing to someone else’s dance music”

Search engine giant Google’s Indian American CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledges there is intense competition in AI which is in its earliest stage, but they have a clear sense of what needs to be done.

“One of the ways you can do the wrong thing is by listening to noise out there and playing to someone else’s dance music,” Pichai said in an interview with Bloomberg published Wednesday.

Pichai was responding to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s remark last year that he hopes the “new Bing” will make Google “come out and show that they can dance.”

“And I want people to know that we made them dance, and I think that’ll be a great day,” Nadella said in February 2023 after it launched the revamped Bing search engine it made with OpenAI.

“It’s happening at a faster pace, but you know technology changes tend to get faster over time,” Pichai told Bloomberg. “So it’s not surprising to me at all.” But “I think we have a clear sense of what we need to do,” Pichai added.

READ: Nadella hits out at Pichai-led Google in Amit Mehta’s court (October 3, 2023)

Pichai also acknowledged that the transition to AI would lead to an explosion of new content, which could be challenging. He emphasized that managing this well would define a high-quality product and be crucial to the success of Search.

Pichai discussed the future of Google Search, emphasizing that handling the influx of new content due to AI is a significant challenge. He also discussed the broader role of AI in the future of Google, hinting at the company’s commitment to integrating AI into their products and services.

Meanwhile, Google is still dominating search compared to Bing — something Nadella acknowledged in the time since his remarks about making his rival dance.

“I think when you have 3% share of global search and you’re competing with somebody who has 97%, even a small gain here and there is an exciting moment,” Nadella said in an October interview. “But Google is a very strong company, and they are going to come out strong.”

“Google has a number of structural advantages right there: they already have the share, they control Android, they control Chrome,” Nadella added. “I always say that Google makes more money on Windows than all of Microsoft. It keeps us grounded.”

Pichai also explained why he never takes technology for granted. He reminisced about his days as a school-going kid when he first experienced the impact of a phone.

Pichai, who was raised in Chennai, studied at IIT Kharagpur and eventually moved to USA to join Google, also talked about his childhood and how it not only impacted his work ethics but also the entire company since he took on the role of CEO in 2015.

“My parent always emphasised learning and knowledge and it is what in some ways with its mission. It always resonated very deeply within me. I felt this quest for learning and knowledge, it is also what this company is about too,” he said.

“I grew up in a middle-class family. I perceived our lives through the arrival of gadgets. We waited five years for a telephone, it was a rotary phone. But when it came to our home, it changed our lives. I remember getting our first television and suddenly being able to watch sports.”

“I used to bike a long way to school, there was no gear in the bike and I had to go uphill. After many years I got a bike with gears and I’m like Wow! What a dramatic difference,” he said. “I never took technology for granted. I’ve always been optimistic about how technology can make a difference.”

Pichai also talked about how Google Search is still relevant in the age of AI. Since AI is gradually trying to replace search engines like Google, Pichai claimed there is space for both. Since a lot of people want a quick search and also some follow-up information.

“I’m trying to keep focused and not play to someone else’s dance music. People tend to focus on this micro-moment, but it is so small in the context of what’s ahead. When I look at the opportunities ahead, across everything we do, I put a lot of chips, at least from my perspective, on Google,” he told Bloomberg.

Highlighting the company’s focus on AI since 2016, Pichai acknowledged that Google faced challenges in capitalising on the chatbot trend and its late entry into the domain. But he remains optimistic.

Drawing parallels with past innovations such as search engines and browsers, Pichai sees AI as in its infancy stage. “We weren’t the first company to do search. We weren’t the first company to do email. We weren’t the first company to build a browser. So I view this AI as we are in the earliest possible stages,” he told Bloomberg.