Google CEO Sundar Pichai and the Future of AI | The Circuit

Summary

谷歌CEO桑达尔·皮查伊（Sundar Pichai）在谷歌成立20周年之际，接受了采访，讨论了谷歌在AI领域的战略和未来。皮查伊强调了AI技术对谷歌搜索、YouTube、Cloud等业务的深远影响，并提到了谷歌在AI领域的长期布局和对创新的承诺。面对微软和OpenAI的挑战，皮查伊认为AI的发展仍处于早期阶段，谷歌将继续推动AI技术的发展，并在搜索、广告、AI生成内容等方面保持领先地位。他还提到了谷歌在处理员工抗议和监管压力方面的态度，以及对AI安全和全球合作的看法。皮查伊对谷歌的未来充满信心，认为公司有能力在AI时代继续引领技术发展。

Takeaways

• 🌐 谷歌作为互联网的“前门”已经20多年，但随着互联网的发展，用户获取信息的途径变得多样化，谷歌可能不再是人们寻找答案的首选。
• 📈 Sundar Pichai作为谷歌及其母公司Alphabet的CEO，正处在一个关键时刻，他通过将AI技术融入到公司各个业务领域来应对挑战。
• 🤖 微软和OpenAI的聊天机器人ChatGPT对谷歌构成了挑战，引发了全行业的AI热潮，但Pichai认为这只是长期战略的一部分。
• 🚀 Pichai认为AI技术仍处于早期阶段，谷歌在AI领域还有很长的路要走，但公司已经为此做好了准备。
• 🧵 谷歌研究人员发明了transformer模型，这是GPT技术的核心，Pichai表示谷歌已经在搜索等产品中使用了transformers。
• 🔍 谷歌搜索的独特之处在于它不仅提供答案，还链接到多样化的来源，即使使用生成性AI，链接依然会存在。
• 💰 尽管谷歌在广告业务上赚了很多钱，但Pichai认为即使聊天机器人提供答案，人们仍然需要选择，谷歌也在探索如何将广告与AI搜索结合。
• 🖼️ Gemini模型生成的一些不恰当图片，如亚洲纳粹和黑人开国元勋，Pichai表示这是不可接受的错误，公司将对此负责并纠正。
• 🌍 谷歌面临的挑战之一是如何在全球范围内提供准确的AI生成内容，Pichai承认在某些情况下过度应用了AI模型，导致错误。
• 📉 一些计算机科学家认为，随着SEO垃圾内容的增加，搜索质量正在下降，Pichai认为这是过渡期的挑战，谷歌将通过提高产品质量来应对。
• ⚖️ 尽管谷歌面临监管压力和竞争，但Pichai相信通过不断创新和专注于使命，谷歌可以保持领先地位。

Q & A

谷歌如何改变了我们的生活？

谷歌改变了我们生活、工作、沟通的方式，甚至改变了我们出行的方式，比如使用谷歌色彩的自行车。谷歌已经成为互联网的前门超过二十年，对我们的生活产生了深远的影响。

谷歌在AI领域的战略是什么？

谷歌的CEO Sundar Pichai一直在精心制定将AI融入到业务每一个角落的战略。这包括YouTube、DeepMind、Cloud以及搜索等关键业务。

谷歌如何应对ChatGPT带来的挑战？

ChatGPT的出现对谷歌构成了挑战，谷歌通过将AI技术更深入地融入其产品中来应对这一挑战，同时也在推动生成性AI和Gemini系列模型的新突破。

Sundar Pichai在谷歌的20年里有什么感受？

Sundar Pichai提到时间飞逝，他在谷歌工作期间也有了孩子，整个经历感觉就像飞逝而过。

谷歌如何通过AI技术提升搜索体验？

谷歌使用生成性AI来提供快速答案，并且始终保持搜索结果链接到多种来源，以确保用户能够接触到广泛的信息。

谷歌如何处理AI生成内容的准确性问题？

谷歌认识到在AI生成内容中可能会产生错误信息的问题，他们正在努力确保AI系统能够提供客观和真实的信息，并且这是一个持续的过程。

谷歌的AI技术如何影响其商业模式？

尽管AI技术可能减少了用户点击广告的链接，但谷歌认为人们需要选择，包括在商业领域，并且谷歌一直在试验如何在AI集成的搜索中平衡广告。

谷歌如何处理AI伦理和偏见问题？

谷歌承认在AI生成的图像中犯过错误，比如生成了不恰当的历史人物形象。他们认为这是一个错误，并承诺将对此负责并纠正这些问题。

谷歌如何看待未来的AI发展？

谷歌认为AI的发展还处于早期阶段，他们将继续投资于深度技术和计算机科学，以解决人们的问题，并推动AI安全和伦理的全球合作。

谷歌的领导风格是如何的？

Sundar Pichai认为自己的领导风格并不是慢和过于谨慎，而是在必要时迅速做出重大决策，并且致力于构建共识，以确保公司能够朝着共同的目标前进。

谷歌如何处理员工的异议和抗议活动？

谷歌强调，如果员工的行为违反了公司的行为准则，或者以一种影响他人舒适度的方式进行抗议，公司将采取行动。这与他们讨论的主题无关，而是关于他们的行为方式。

Outlines

00:00

😀 谷歌的中心与变革

在谷歌的中心，我们回顾了谷歌如何改变我们的生活和工作方式。谷歌作为互联网的入口已经超过二十年，但现在人们获取信息的途径变得多样化，谷歌可能不再是首选。谷歌CEO桑达尔·皮查伊（Sundar Pichai）在公司的关键时期，面对微软和OpenAI的挑战，正在将AI技术融入到公司的每个角落。皮查伊的策略和对AI的长远规划，以及他个人在谷歌20年的经历，都在这个段落中有所体现。

05:01

🤖 AI时代的搜索与责任

这个段落讨论了谷歌在AI时代搜索业务的挑战和机遇。谷歌虽然发明了变换器（transformer），但竞争对手利用这项技术对谷歌构成了威胁。皮查伊认为，谷歌通过在搜索中使用变换器，已经提升了搜索质量。同时，他也谈到了AI在提供快速答案时的局限性，以及谷歌搜索如何通过链接到多样化的来源来保持其独特性。此外，还提到了AI生成内容的道德和准确性问题，以及谷歌如何对此进行监管。

10:01

🌐 谷歌的长期视角与创新

皮查伊在这一段落中表达了对谷歌长期发展的乐观态度。他认为，尽管谷歌在某些时刻可能看起来在防守，但公司已经在AI领域做好了准备，并且拥有引领未来的坚实基础。他提到了谷歌在AI研究和技术上的投资，以及如何通过这些技术来推动下一代的突破。同时，他也谈到了谷歌的文化和领导风格，以及如何在保持公司文化的同时，应对外界的批评和挑战。

15:02

📈 谷歌的业务调整与未来方向

这一段落涉及了谷歌的业务调整，包括员工的重新分配和团队的简化，以专注于公司的首要任务。皮查伊讨论了谷歌在AI、云计算和搜索引擎等领域的创新和竞争策略。他还提到了谷歌面临的监管压力，以及公司如何通过整合产品来提供用户价值并在市场上保持竞争力。此外，他也谈到了谷歌对于AI硬件的展望，以及公司在推动AI安全和全球合作方面的思考。

20:04

🚀 谷歌的AI愿景与社会责任

在最后一段落中，皮查伊分享了谷歌在AI领域的愿景，包括实现人工通用智能（AGI）的承诺和方法。他强调了谷歌在推动AI技术发展的同时，也注重其社会责任和伦理考量。此外，他也谈到了AI技术的潜在威胁，以及谷歌如何通过不断的创新来保持领先。最后，他以对未来技术的乐观态度结束了对话，希望当前的AI技术在未来看起来会像是一个玩具一样简单。

Keywords

💡Google

Google 是一家全球知名的科技公司，以搜索引擎起家，现已发展成为提供广泛互联网相关服务和产品的科技巨头。在视频中，Google 被描述为互联网的前门，影响着人们的生活和工作方式。

💡AI（人工智能）

AI 是指使计算机系统模拟人类智能的技术，包括学习、推理、自我修正和感知。视频中提到 AI 被注入到 Google 业务的每个角落，表明 AI 在公司未来战略中的核心地位。

💡Sundar Pichai

Sundar Pichai 是 Google 及其母公司 Alphabet 的 CEO，视频中提到他作为产品领导者和调停者的才能，以及他如何领导这家科技巨头并制定将 AI 融入公司各个方面的战略。

💡ChatGPT

ChatGPT 是由 OpenAI 开发的一种聊天机器人，它在视频中被提及，因为它似乎挑战了 Google 在搜索领域的领导地位，引发了对 AI 的全行业关注。

💡Transformer

Transformer 是一种深度学习模型，主要用于处理序列数据，如自然语言。视频中提到 Google 研究人员发明了 Transformer，它是 GPT（生成式预训练转换器）中“T”所指的技术。

💡Google Lens

Google Lens 是 Google 提供的一项图像识别功能，用户可以通过它来获取有关物体或场景的信息。视频中 Sundar Pichai 举例说明他和他的孩子们如何在家中使用 Google Lens 来帮助完成作业。

💡AI-first

AI-first 是 Sundar Pichai 在 2016 年作为 CEO 提出的战略方向，意味着公司将 AI 作为其产品和服务的核心。视频中提到这一战略标志着 Google 对 AI 技术的重视和未来发展的承诺。

💡Search

搜索是 Google 的核心业务之一，允许用户快速找到信息。视频中讨论了搜索业务如何随着 AI 的发展而演变，以及 Google 如何利用生成式 AI 来改进搜索结果。

💡广告业务

Google 的广告业务是其收入的主要来源之一。视频中提到，即使在 AI 提供直接答案的情况下，Google 也在探索如何在搜索结果旁边放置广告，以维持其商业模式。

💡监管压力

随着 Google 在多个市场的主导地位，公司面临来自美国和其他国家的监管压力。视频中讨论了监管对 Google 业务的影响，以及公司如何应对这些挑战。

💡AGI（人工通用智能）

AGI 指的是能够执行任何智能任务的 AI 系统，而不仅仅是特定任务。视频中 Sundar Pichai 表达了 Google 对于向 AGI 迈进的承诺，强调了以一种大胆而负责任的方式进行基础性进展的重要性。

Highlights

谷歌是互联网的前门，已经20多年，但现在有了许多门。

谷歌CEO Sundar Pichai在谷歌和其母公司Alphabet处于关键时刻，他作为产品领导者和和平缔造者而崛起。

Pichai一直在精心制定将人工智能注入业务每个角落的战略。

微软和OpenAI的聊天机器人似乎使谷歌失去了优势，挑战了其文化相关性。

ChatGPT在谷歌引发了红色警报，引发了自网络泡沫以来从未见过的全行业对AI的狂热。

Pichai认为，对于他来说，这种狂热只是长期游戏的一部分。

谷歌以其独特的面试问题而闻名，Pichai回忆说他的面试是关于Gmail的。

谷歌在上个季度取得了巨大的成功，股票跳升，Pichai认为这是公司努力的结果。

Pichai认为，尽管AI已经存在了几十年，但当前的科技周期感觉更大，我们仍处于早期阶段。

Pichai和他的孩子们在家中使用Google Lens来帮助家庭作业。

Pichai在印度金奈长大，他的父母总是强调学习和知识的重要性。

作为CEO，Pichai认为他变得更加擅长于从噪音中分离出信号，并关注需要关注的事情。

谷歌联合创始人Larry Page和Sergey Brin仍然定期与Pichai交流，提供建议。

Pichai认为，谷歌的搜索与其他竞争对手相比，其核心优势在于提供广泛多样的来源链接。

谷歌研究人员发明了transformer，这是GPT中的“T”，Pichai表示谷歌在搜索中使用了transformer。

Pichai认为，尽管AI有时会非常有帮助，但有时也会严重出错，谷歌搜索将始终保持链接。

一些领先的计算机科学家认为搜索正在变得更糟，Pichai认为这是过渡期的挑战。

Pichai认为，随着AI在搜索中的作用越来越大，谷歌的广告业务模式可能会面临挑战。

谷歌的Gemini模型最初生成了一些不恰当的图像，Pichai表示这是不可接受的。

Pichai认为，随着AI生成内容的增加，如何在合成内容的世界中保持客观和真实，将是搜索在未来十年的定义。

Pichai表示，尽管谷歌面临监管压力，但其产品通过集成为用户提供了价值。

Pichai认为，AI驱动的硬件，尤其是智能手机和眼镜，将是未来AI创新的中心。

Pichai强调，为了实现AI安全，我们需要开发框架以实现全球合作。

Pichai认为，尽管目前AGI（人工通用智能）的定义不明确，谷歌致力于以大胆和负责任的方式取得基础进展。

Pichai认为，尽管AI系统可能仍然是一个黑箱，但AI将为我们提供对复杂系统的更多洞察和可见性。

Pichai认为，盲目信任任何公司或系统都是不可取的，重要的是要有适当的系统和监管来平衡创新。

Pichai认为，对于所有公司来说，尤其是大规模公司，最大的威胁是执行不力。

Transcripts

We are in the Plex.

This is the center of Google.

Gosh, it's hard to remember life before Google.

It changed literally everything.

How we live, how we work, how we communicate,

how we get literally anywhere on a Googly colored bike.

Google has been the front door of the internet

for over two decades,

and now there are so many doors.

Google may not be the first place you go

for answers anymore,

so what are they gonna do about it?

Hello.

Hi, Emily. So good to meet you again.

Good to see you again.

Thanks so much for having us here.

Oh, likewise.

I'm glad you chose a sunny day to come on campus.

It's beautiful.

Sundar Pichai is at a pivotal moment.

He's the CEO of Google

and its parent company, Alphabet,

rising to the top after proving his medal

as a talented product leader and peacemaker.

He runs a tech giant

that functions more like a micro country,

overseeing businesses as consequential as YouTube,

DeepMind, Cloud, and, of course, Search.

Pichai has been carefully crafting a strategy

that infuses AI into every corner of the business.

That deliberate planning was met with a surprise

from longtime rival Microsoft and OpenAI,

whose chatbot seemingly knocked Google off its perch

and challenged its cultural relevance.

ChatGPT set off a code red at Google,

and an industry-wide fever pitch over AI

not seen since the dot-com boom.

But for Pichai, the frenzy is just part of the long game.

I saw it's your 20th anniversary.

That's right.

It was last week. It crept upon me.

Are you coffee or tea?

I'll go for coffee.

How about you? I'm gonna have a green tea.

Does it feel like you've been here for 20 years?

Not quite.

You know, time flies by.

You know, I had my kids right when I started Google too,

so the whole thing just flew by.

Google is famous for those

out-of-the box job interview questions.

Do you remember any of yours?

Like, did you have to figure out

how many golf balls fit in a school bus

or something like that?

Thank God. No.

You know, but, you know, I remember very, very clearly

I interviewed on April 1st, so it was April Fool's Day 2004.

There was rumor.

I didn't know whether it had actually happened,

but Gmail apparently had launched.

So all my interviews were about Gmail.

People wanted to know what I thought of the product.

And it definitely wasn't a joke? They launched it.

They actually launched it, yeah.

But I never allow,

no products on April Fool's Day.

I think it's too confusing.

You just had a blowout quarter.

The stock jumped more than it has in a long time.

Did that feel like a little bit of vindication,

or, as they say in cricket,

was that the bat talking?

In many ways, you know,

it felt we worked very hard to set up the company for that.

You know, in 2016, one of the first things I did as CEO

was to say the company should be AI first.

To me, we are just getting started

in the beginning of what I think

will be a extraordinary decade of innovation,

and so I'm incredibly excited about it.

AI has been around for decades,

but it seems like everything is happening everywhere,

all at once.

How do you make sense of the frenzy and the scale?

All tech cycles are this way, right?

You know, the-

But this one feels different.

It feels bigger. Is it?

It is bigger.

We still have long ways to go,

but we are in the early stages of that.

And so, you know,

you're gonna feel that excitement, that frenzy,

but I think we are prepared for it.

So you kind of roll with the flow.

You embrace it.

How are you and your kids experimenting with AI at home?

We use Google Lens for homework.

I don't want to get 'em in trouble,

but the class allows you to do that.

But sometimes he asks me for help on math.

I dunno.

Sometimes I'm lazy and I pretend as if I'm thinking,

but I'm also using Google Lens

to kind of figure out the answer.

You grew up in Chennai in India.

What was it like at the kitchen table?

Like, what got you here?

My parents always emphasized, you know,

learning and knowledge,

and it's worked in some ways, Google with its mission,

it always resonated very deeply with me.

You know, I felt this quest

for learning knowledge, et cetera.

It's what the company is about, too.

I grew in a middle-class family.

I perceived our life through the arrival of gadgets.

We waited five years for a telephone.

It was a rotary phone,

but when it came to our home,

you know, it changed everyone's lives.

I remember getting our first television

and suddenly being able to watch sports.

You know, I used to bike a long way to school,

but, you know, there was no gear in the bike,

and I had to go uphill.

But then, after many years, I got a bike with gears,

and, like, I'm like, "Wow, this thing make, you know,

what a dramatic difference."

I never took technology for granted.

And so that's what, you know,

always been optimistic

about how technology can make a difference.

You've been CEO now for a decade.

How have you changed in that time?

I think the main thing is when you've done it for a while,

you know, you get to understand patterns,

so you're running into something,

but there's a sense of deja vu,

you know, you've seen it before.

And so I think that helps you kind of pattern match

and deal with it more effectively.

But a lot of this is, you know,

this scale, you have so much coming at you,

there's a lot of noise, and most of it doesn't matter.

So the ability to separate the signals from the noise,

pay attention to the few things

that you need to pay attention to.

And, you know,

I think I've gotten better at that over the years.

I heard Sergey is back and working a bit on AI.

What is the involvement of Larry and Sergey these days,

and what advice are they giving you?

I talk to them regularly.

Sergey is actually spending more time in the office.

He's literally coding.

And, you know,

some of my fondest memories over the last year

is sitting with Sergey on large screen

looking at lost curves as we train these models.

I think one of the advantages they have

is they're not caught up in the day-to-day.

And so sometimes, when I have conversations with them,

it allows all of us to step back

and look at the bigger picture,

which I think is incredibly important

when you run something at this scale.

The decisions Pichai and Google make

influence how billions of people get information.

And the nature of how users do that

is starting to change in the age of AI.

This seems like a threat to Google,

except the core technology being used

by Google's competitors was invented by Google itself.

Google researchers invented the transformer,

literally the T in GPT.

Do you wish you capitalized on that louder and sooner?

We use transformers in Search.

That's what led to large gaps in Search quality

compared to other products.

So we have infused transformers across our products.

We have a chance to do that better with generative AI

and with the Gemini series of models.

And there's gonna be more breakthroughs in this field.

But what is more important is we are driving that progress.

And if the new Google is only gonna be more and more AI,

you know, AI is super helpful sometimes,

but sometimes it's still deeply wrong.

Where do you draw the line?

I think part of what makes Google Search differentiator

is while there are times we give answers,

it'll always link to a wide variety of sources.

Now we've had answers in Search now for many, many years.

We are just now using generative AI to do that.

So the links will live on.

Yes, and, you know,

I think it'll always be an important part of Search.

There will be times when they want quick answers.

My son is celiac, so we did a quick question

to see whether something is gluten-free.

We just want to know.

But often it leads to more things,

and, you know, then you want to explore more.

I think understanding that, meeting all that needs

is part of what makes Search unique.

Some leading computer scientists

have said Search is getting worse, more SEO spam, et cetera.

Do you see their point?

Anytime there's a transition,

you get an explosion of new content,

and AI is going to do that.

So for us, we view this as the challenge,

and I actually think,

you know, there'll be people

who will struggle to do that, right?

So doing that well

is what will define a high-quality product,

and I think it's gonna be the heart

of what makes Search successful.

You make a ton of money on ads

next to the links generated by searches.

If a chatbot is giving you answers and not links,

and maybe more answers than links sometimes,

are we in the midst of an assault

on Google's business model?

So we've always found people want choices,

including in commercial areas,

and that's a fundamental need.

And I think we've always been able to balance it.

As we are rolling out AI or views in Search,

we've been experimenting with ads,

and the data we see shows that those fundamental principles

will hold true during this phase as well.

The images that Gemini initially generated of Asian Nazis

and Black founding fathers,

you've said that was unacceptable.

If you look at any pictures of the founding fathers,

you're seeing old white men.

People are calling this woke AI,

and it's not just happening here,

it's happening across the industry.

How did the model generate something that it never saw?

We are a company

which serves products to users around the world,

and there are generic questions.

For example, people come and say,

"Show me images of school teachers,

or doctors, or nurses."

We have people asking this query from Indonesia

or the US, right?

How do you get it right for our global user base?

Obviously, the mistake was that we overapplied,

including cases where it should have never applied.

So that was the bug,

and, you know, so we got it wrong.

Would you say it's like good intentions gone awry?

In this particular case, yes, right?

I think, you know, we are rightfully held to a high bar,

and I think we clearly take responsibility for it,

and we are gonna get it right.

How concerned are you

about AI-generated content ruining Search?

For example, the AI-generated selfie

of the tank man in Tiananmen Square.

It shows up in Google search results, but it never happened.

The challenge for everyone and the opportunity is,

how do you have a notion of what's objective

and real in a world

where there's gonna be a lot of synthetic content?

I think it's part of what will define Search

in the next decade ahead, right?

People often come to Google right away to see

whether something they saw somewhere else actually happen.

It's a common pattern we see.

We are making progress,

but it's gonna be an ongoing journey, right?

You've got AI systems

that are running out of training data.

You've got companies turning to AI-generated data

to train their models.

Aren't there risks to that?

Yes.

I think that, you know, through it all,

are you creating new knowledge?

Are these models developing reasoning capabilities, right?

Are you making progress in the intelligence of these models?

I think those are the frontiers we need to prove that,

you know, you can do that by using these techniques.

Is LLM technology nearing a plateau?

I would be surprised

if LLMs are the only thing we would need to make progress.

We are investing a lot of computing and resources.

Our AI research is talent

in driving the next generation set of breakthroughs.

It seems, when you look at the big picture,

like Google missed the big moment, and ChatGPT took it.

A new artificial intelligence program called ChatGPT

made its debut online.

It's as revolutionary as the internet.

The topic of today's big take is also Microsoft,

and it's big bet on AI

and how it just kind of leapfrogged over Google

and no one kind of knew about it until now.

If you could go back,

what would you do differently?

To be clear,

I take a long-term perspective and say,

when the internet just first came about,

Google didn't even exist then, right?

So we were in the first company to do search,

we were in the first company to do email,

we were in the first company to build a browser.

So I view this AI as,

you know, we are in the earliest possible stages.

Your leadership style has been described as slow,

and steady, and cautious, sometimes maybe too cautious,

and you're often compared to these other tech leaders

who are moving fast and breaking things.

How would you describe yourself?

Look, the reality, I think, is quite different.

One of the first things I did when I became a CEO

was to pivot the company sharply to focus on AI

as well as really invest more in YouTube

and Cloud to build them into big businesses.

I think the larger the company is,

you are making fewer consequential decisions,

but they need to be clear,

and you have to point the whole company to that.

Part of that, at times, involves bringing the company along.

You build consensus

because that's what allows you to have maximum impact

behind those decisions.

I mean, any leader in a position like yours

has to be willing to hear the criticism.

And I'm not gonna make you read the mean tweets

like they do on "Late Night,"

but I do have a few.

"Where is Google?"

"Running things through legal."

"Google doesn't have one single visionary leader,

not a one."

Do you think you're the right person to lead Google?

Look, it's a privilege to lead the company.

You know, people tend to focus in this micro moment,

but it is so small in the context of what's ahead,

and, you know, when I look at the opportunities ahead

across everything we do,

and for the first time,

all of that has a calm and leveraged technology with AI.

You know, I put a lot of chips,

at least from my perspective on Google.

So can you walk through campus without getting stopped?

It's definitely been nice to walk

and see people, you know, so I enjoy it a lot.

I see a dinosaur statue in the distance,

which I think is a good reminder.

Like, how much do you worry about becoming a dinosaur

in a world where technology is moving so quickly?

I mean, in technology, I think,

if you don't innovate to stay ahead,

I think that's the inevitable fate of any company.

No dinosaurs? Not yet.

Well, they were great,

but you know, you don't want,

you don't want to have the same fate.

How much has this AI moment forced you to move

and think differently?

Because it does seem like you're playing defense sometimes.

We have been preparing for this for a while.

You know, a lot of the foundation

of breakthroughs in the field came from Google.

So to me, this moment has been over the past year,

really channeling the company to meet the moment.

There they are. The I/O tents.

I/O tent.

For one time a year,

we get to pretend as if we are on a concert stage,

except we are speaking about technology.

So Google I/O is sort of a state of the Google Union.

What is the key message this year?

It's less about, you know, particular product,

more about the journey we are on,

the vision we have for how AI can transform our products,

and how we can bring it.

Alphabet used to be thought of

as this collection of moonshots,

but a lot of those projects have been spun off,

or folded back into Google, or shut down.

How should we think about Alphabet today?

What is the new Google?

When we think about both across Google and Alphabet,

the underlying bet is the same.

You're going to invest in deep technology

and computer science

and apply it to solve problems for people.

So I think that part doesn't change.

When you take big, large-scale bets,

by definition, you're not aiming big enough

if you don't have a few failures.

When you go back to the S-1,

Google said, "We're not a conventional company.

You can spend 20% of your time on personal projects."

Google created this bottoms up culture

where everyone has a voice, and it's super transparent,

and the perks are great too.

But did it go too far?

Like, did it become an entitlement culture?

Part of what makes Google unique is, I think,

there is a culture of vibrant, open debate.

And so I think it's super important to preserve that.

I think we are also a company

where employees have many ways to speak up,

and I think that's made the company better.

Google, Google, you can't hide.

Google, Google, you can't hide.

You recently fired Google employees

who were protesting this contract

with the Israeli government for cloud services.

It seemed like a distinct change in tone for a company

that's historically welcomed all kinds of views.

Why did you take this stand?

I think when we have cases, including in this case

where a few employees, you know,

cross beyond what's in the code of contact

and disrupt the productivity of the workplace,

or do so in a way

that it makes other people feel uncomfortable,

I think we have to take action,

and that's what we are doing.

It has nothing to do with the topic they are discussing.

It's about the conduct of how they went about it.

Over the past years, through the pandemic,

the company has grown a lot.

There are a lot of new people.

I view, particularly in this moment with AI,

the opportunity we have ahead of us is immense,

but it needs a real focus on our mission.

There have been multiple rounds of layoffs.

Why take this approach?

Why not cut once and cut deep?

We are reallocating people to our highest priorities.

There are cases where you're simplifying teams,

you're moving people to focus on newer areas,

removing layers so that you can improve velocity.

So that's why we have taken the time

to do it correctly and well.

Microsoft is obviously making huge investments

in AI as well.

OpenAI, Inflection, Mistral.

We've reported that their OpenAI investment

was actually in part because they were worried about Google

and wanted to catch up.

How do you feel about the competition?

I've always held a view

if you're working in the technology space,

there is a lot of competition.

We see it all the time.

The way you stay ahead is by innovating relentlessly.

It has to be true all the time.

It's happening at a faster pace.

But, you know, technology,

changes tend to get faster over time,

so it's not surprising to me at all.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has had some fighting words.

I hope that with our innovation,

they will definitely want to 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.

Who's really choosing the dance music?

I think 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.

I've always been very clear.

I think we have a clear sense of what we need to do.

So you're listening to your own music.

That's exactly right.

Google is facing a ton of regulatory pressure

in the US, abroad, over your dominance in Search,

video, ads, the app store.

Some other big companies have split themselves up

to focus on their core.

Has Google thought about that?

A lot of our products integrate in a way

that provides value for our users.

So I think that is important.

Part of what allows us to compete

in the Google Cloud market is our,

the investment in AI we undertook

because of Search is what allows us to take that

and compete hard against other larger companies,

like Amazon and Microsoft, in Cloud.

So I would argue

that the way we are approaching it drives innovation

and adds choice in the market.

What do you think is the future

or potential of AI-powered hardware,

and what will Google's role in it be?

I think with AI,

you get a chance to rethink

that experience over the next few years.

I still see the center

of where the AI innovation will happen in smartphones,

followed by glasses, right?

That's how I see it.

Last time we talked,

you told me China will be at the forefront of AI.

How should policymakers factor that into their decisions?

I think over time we need to develop frameworks

by which we achieve global cooperation to achieve AI safety.

I know it sounds farfetched now,

but we've done it in other areas,

like nuclear technology and so on, to some extent.

I think we are gonna need framework like that.

And so I would expect, over time,

there needs to be engagement with China

on important issues like AI safety.

Artificial general intelligence.

What does it mean to you?

Do we get there and when?

It's not a well-defined phrase,

it means different things to different people.

But I think if you define AGI as AI becoming capable

across a wide variety of economic activity

and being able to do it well,

I think that's one way to look at it.

So Google's gonna get us to AGI?

You know, we are committed

to making foundational progress towards AGI

in a bold and responsible way.

And so, you know,

I'll focus on the effort to do that and do that well.

You've said there's even some things about AI

that you don't understand.

Will AI always be somewhat in a black box?

I have a little bit of a counterintuitive view there.

I think, you know, humans are very mysterious, too.

Often, when people explain why they did things,

you know, they're telling something,

it's not entirely clear.

Today, we can't make sense of many complex systems.

AI will give us more insights

and more visibility into many complex things.

When I asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

why we should trust him, he said.

You shouldn't.

Why should we trust Google?

Well, I share the notion that no one,

you shouldn't blind lead, you know?

That's why it's important to have systems in place.

Regulation has a part to play, you know,

test balance innovation.

But as these AI systems get more capable,

it shouldn't just be based on a system

of trust people or trust companies.

We've talked a lot about the opportunities.

What is the biggest threat to Google's future?

I view for all companies,

particularly, you know, at scale,

you know, the biggest threat is not executing well.

Is there a healthy dose of paranoia?

Like not becoming Stan the T-Rex out there?

I think that, you know,

there's a part of me which has always internalized, I think,

the old Andy Grove phase, "Only the paranoid survive."

That is important.

And I think this moment is no different.

Are we gonna look back on this LLM era and laugh?

Like, is this gonna all look so basic and rudimentary?

I hope we do because that shows, you know,

you know, my kids aren't impressed by touchscreens

or the fact that they have this extraordinary amount

of computing in their hands.

So similarly, you know,

there's no reason we wouldn't scale up

our computing a hundred thousand times in a few years.

So, yes, you know,

I hope some of this looks like a toy in the future.

I hope it is that way, otherwise, we didn't do our job well.

Thank you so much. That was so awesome.

She's more difficult than any AI to deal with, right?

Oh, man.