There are plenty of concerns around how Google Search will be impacted with users often turning straight to AI systems to get their answers, but Google CEO Sundar Pichai has a persuasive argument on how Google Search could thrive in the age of AI.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says he isn’t fazed by the rise of AI-powered search alternatives. Speaking to All-in Podcast host David Friedberg in an interview, Pichai said he sees AI as an “extraordinary opportunity” for Google Search. His argument rests on a foundation of innovation, user-centricity, and a history of successfully navigating technological shifts.
Pichai talked about how Google had had been a first-mover in AI. “We acquired DeepMind in 2014. In 2015, when I became the CEO, I said look, the technology is really evolving. Our work is AI-first because we really felt that AI is what will drive the biggest progress in search. And so, I think even the last couple of years, I’ve viewed this as an extraordinary opportunity for search,” Pichai said.
Pichai argues that far from posing a threat, AI could actually empower users. “I think if you look at how much information means to people, I think they’re going to each person is going to have access to information in a way they’ve never had before, so it feels very far from a zero-sum construct to me. And we are seeing it empirically when people are using search.”
He then alluded to Google’s strategic adjustments in response to evolving user behaviors and emerging platforms. “You know, YouTube has thrived since the moment TikTok has come in. It was a whole new format, (and we responded) with YouTube Shorts. When we launched shorts, they absolutely didn’t monetize anywhere near a long form video. But we just lean into the user experience, and over time when we figured out monetization to follow,” he added.
Pichai also responded to a belief in some quarters that Google was facing an innovator’s dilemma with AI — some experts have suggested that if it integrated AI within search, it could lose the massive profits that search brings it, and if it didn’t, someone else could create a competing service and take away those users. “You don’t think about it as a dilemma,” Pichai said, “because you have to innovate to stay ahead, and you can lean in the direction of the user. It’s like one of the original principles of Google — follow the user, everything else will follow. I think the dilemma only exists if you treat it as a dilemma. All along in technology, you have these massive periods of innovation and you lean into it as hard as you can — it’s the only way to do it. You know when mobile came everyone was like you’re not going to have the real estate, like how will ads work, all that stuff. (But) mobile was a transition which ended up working great (for Google),” he added.
Pichai’s argument is compelling. He positions AI not as a replacement for search, but as an enhancer. He also speaks about Google’s AI credentials — Google, incidentally, had come up with the transformers paper that led to the current AI revolution — and says how it’s best placed to capitalize on this new technology. It remains to be seen how search shapes up in the age of AI, but Google seems confident that it’ll still be the primary way for people to access information for years to come.