It’s now generally agreed as to how important the development of AI is, but it could end up being the most consequential invention in thousands of years of human history.
In a powerful statement that frames the ongoing artificial intelligence revolution in sweeping historical terms, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has reaffirmed his conviction that AI’s impact will ultimately dwarf that of humanity’s most foundational discoveries. The declaration, which he first made years ago, has gained profound resonance as AI, particularly generative models, has exploded into the public consciousness and begun to reshape industries at a blistering pace.
“Look, many years ago—I think it might have been 2017 or 2018—I said at the time that AI is the most profound technology humanity will ever work on; it will be more profound than fire or electricity,” he said on the Lex Fridman podcast. “So, I have to back myself. I still think that’s the case.”
He acknowledged the natural temptation to overstate the importance of the present moment. “I was thinking, ‘Well, do we have a recency bias?’ In sports, it’s very tempting to call the current person you’re seeing the greatest player,” Pichai mused. “And so, is there a recency bias? I do think, from first principles, I would argue AI will be bigger than all of those.”
The core of Pichai’s argument, however, lies in what makes AI fundamentally different from any technology that has come before it. “I don’t think we’ve ever dealt with a technology that is progressing so fast and becoming so capable. It’s not clear what the ceiling is,” he asserted. The key distinction, in his view, is its autonomous nature. “The main unique characteristic is that it’s recursively self-improving; it’s capable of that. It’s the first technology that will dramatically accelerate creation itself. Creating things, building new things—it can improve and achieve things on its own. I think that puts it in a different league.”
This capacity for self-evolution and independent creation is what Pichai believes will lead to an unprecedented impact. “And so, I think the impact it will end up having will far surpass everything we’ve seen before,” he concluded. “Obviously, with that comes a lot of important things to think and wrestle with, but I definitely think that’ll end up being the case.”
Pichai’s assertion is not just CEO hyperbole; it points to a paradigm shift that is already underway. The concept of “recursively self-improving” AI—where a system can refine its own code to become more intelligent—is moving from theoretical to practical, as seen in advanced research projects. This creates a feedback loop that could lead to an exponential explosion in capability. His own company, Google, is at the forefront of this wave with its Gemini and Veo family of models. The rapid succession of releases—from Gemini 1.0 to 1.5 and the latest experimental 2.5 versions throughout 2024 and 2025—demonstrates this accelerated progress. These models are not just getting better at text; their native multimodality allows them to understand, combine, and generate information across text, images, audio, and video, a capability being woven into the fabric of everything from Google Search and Workspace to developer tools and Android. Amnd Pichai’s words serve as a crucial directive for businesses and society at large: we are not just adopting a new tool, but partnering with a technology that evolves on its own, promising to reshape the very essence of human progress and innovation.