The launch of ChatGPT set off a race among Big Tech companies and startups to scale AI, but Google CEO Sundar Pichai doesn’t see it as a situation where only one player wins.
“I think all of us are going to do well in this scenario,” Pichai said during an episode of the “All-In Podcast,” published Friday.
Podcast host David Friedberg agreed with Pichai and said there seems to be a misconception that there’s one winner “and everyone else is a loser.” Friedberg said AI is introducing “an entirely new world” that’s bigger than that.
Pichai’s comments came after former Googler and Podcast host David Friedberg asked for his thoughts on rival companies like Microsoft, xAI, OpenAI, and Meta and their leaders. The Google CEO acknowledged that “by definition, it’s a very impressive group.”
“I think maybe only one of them has invited me to a dance, not the others,” Pichai said, referencing Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s comments that the “new Bing” will make Google “come out and show that they can dance.”
Pichai added that he spent time with Elon Musk about two weeks ago and described the billionaire’s ability to build future technologies as “unparalleled.” He said that while there is competition among the companies discussed, there is also respect and partnerships.
Pichai said that AI offers a much larger “opportunity landscape” than any previous technology combined. He added that there may be companies that enter the playing field that haven’t been established yet. Pichai raised the point that when the internet came out in 1983, Google hadn’t even been launched as a company yet. Now, it’s become the dominant search engine.
“There are companies we don’t even know, haven’t been started yet, their names aren’t known,” Pichai said, adding that those “might be extraordinarily big winners” when it comes to AI.
Pichai said that the companies that end up doing well will be those that are able to “innovate and execute with the best talent.” That is what will be the driver for success, Pichai said.
Google is actively investing in that belief. Last year, the tech giant reportedly spent $2.7 billion on a deal largely intended to get AI scientist and startup founder Noam Shazeer back at the company. Other companies are following the same path: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has directly called candidates to persuade them to join his startup.
OpenAI also poached dozens of Googlers last year, and Zuckerberg has reportedly written personal emails to AI researchers at Google’s DeepMind as a recruitment attempt. Even if Pichai is right that there’s room for multiple companies to win the AI race, the competition hasn’t shown signs of letting up anytime soon.
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