As Google turns 25, CEO Sundar Pichai pushes for search and AI evolution

Google marks its 25th anniversary in September, and CEO Sundar Pichai affirmed that search would remain the company’s core while it pushes AI boundaries

Born in 1998, Google prepares to turn 25 on September 27 [File] | Photo Credit: Reuters

Just as Google prepares to officially turn 25 on September 27, CEO Sundar Pichai affirmed search would continue to be the core of the company’s mission, and that there was much more to be done with it and AI.

In a blog post published this week, Pichai said that when he became CEO in 2015, he aimed to make Google an AI-first company. He touched upon research at DeepMind, the invention of the Tensor Processing Units, this year’s public release of the AI chatbot Bard, and the Search Generative Experience (SGE).

However, the search engine giant has also faced antitrust complaints and fines in jurisdictions across the world. The U.S. and the EU are especially concerned about Google’s dominance in the search business, online advertising sector, and Android market. The company has been hit with record fines in the billions of dollars and was forced to change its Android user policies due to legal action in India.

As Google also races to develop Bard, it has been accused of stealing personal data and creative works from users for the training of AI models without crediting or compensating the original creators.

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In his note, however, Pichai promised that the company’s AI evolution would take place responsibly and address risks.

The company chief said that 15 Google products each served over half a billion people and businesses, while six products served over 2 billion users each. Furthermore, Android runs on around 3 billion devices worldwide, as per the post.

Coming to the company’s more recent AI-powered products, Pichai said that about one million people were using generative AI in Google Workspace while the technology was also being leveraged for more high-profile requirements such as preventing disasters.

“Flood forecasting now covers places where 460+ million people live. A million researchers have used the AlphaFold database which covers 200 million predictions of protein structures, helping with advances to cut plastic pollution, tackle antibiotic resistance, fight malaria, and more. And we’ve demonstrated how AI can help the airline industry to decrease contrails from planes, an important tool for fighting climate change,” explained Pichai.