For Sundar Pichai, the chief of Alphabet and Google, the belief in India’s technological prowess is backed by the leap the government created public good utilities such as the United Payments Interface and Aadhaar have made. India could be “a shining example” for creating open and connected stacks, Pichai who is on an ongoing visit to the country told ET’s
Aashish Aryan,
Surabhi Agarwal and
Bodhisatva Ganguli in an exclusive interview. Pichai also outlined some concerns around the CCI verdicts while rooting for responsible regulation. The Madurai-born executive said that Google is very pleased with the progress of the $10-billion digitisation fund which has invested in firms such as Jio and Airtel. He also shared his thoughts on ChatGPT, Metaverse and how AI will play a huge role in the shaping of Google over the next 5-10 years. Excerpts:

India is right now drafting a lot of tech regulations such as the telecom Bill, the new Data Bill and the overall revision of the IT Act. What would be your advice to the government?


Given the scale and role that technology plays in society, governments, including in India have the right in ensuring citizens’ security, and privacy. I think it makes sense. We see this around the world. It’s important for India to think this through. We want to be responsible and constructive partner.

We have been here a long time and are committed to India for the very long term. It’s important to me that we are a responsible local company in the context of helping India through its Digital India vision.

On Monday you said how you speak of India’s UPI in other nations?

I think India can be a shining example. Look at what India has accomplished with UPI, Aadhaar and the payments stack and you will see the value of having an open, connected stack which works. And that is what internet is. Having a responsible regulation which preserves all of this are some of the core elements. India will stand to benefit a lot as it will be a successful exporter in this digital economy. So, I think, it’s a balance and that’s what I see in a lot of the proposals (by the Indian government). We will be a constructive partner.

You announced a $10-billion digitisation fund with a significant investment in Jio in 2020. How would you kind of assess the investment in Jio and the overall fund?


We could not be more pleased with the fund. We are continuing to make progress. We made large investments with Jio, Airtel and a few others. A part of the work we did with Jio was developing the JioPhone. We are doing that with other partners as well. Our motivation is to make sure to bring affordable access to as many people as possible. Improving 5G connectivity has been a big part of the focus of the digitisation fund. We are also focused on startups now, on startups led by women as well. I am excited about it. I think AI offers an opportunity for many more innovations to come. We want to make sure we are using the India Digitisation Fund to contribute there with a focus on sectors like agriculture, healthcare.

What do you make of the Competition Commission of India’s decisions to impose penalties on Google? There are a bunch of directions for Google, apart from the monetary penal provisions.


We invest a lot in Android. But we provide it as a free operating system. And it’s used by many OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). It has powered this digital revolution, including bringing access to hundreds of millions of users. Developers have used it to scale. So, I think it is functioning well. I am definitely concerned by some of the aspects of the ruling. I think it can really set back user privacy and security. It’s important to make sure that we work hard to protect users through it all. We will be very respectfully engage. There is a legal process as well and our teams are evaluating the next steps. It is important that we are able to continue to provide Android in a way that works for India well. I will be open to feedback as well and make sure we are working through it.

The complainants were anonymous. Is that a cause of concern?


I want to respect the legal proceedings and the (CCI) Commission’s authority. Our issue is more on the substance of making sure that Android and Play, which is a big platform and ecosystem, work well for Indian people and consumers. That’s where my concerns will be.

What are your views on the right to forget laws?


We have stated our principles clearly. We have had appeals. But at the end of the day, we have a track record of making sure we are a constructive and responsible partner. We comply with local laws and regulations. In some countries where it is the law now, we have processes in place to comply. I view it as the right thing that played out.

There is now talk of a tech winter. Layoffs have been announced by various organisations and there seems to be more to come. How do you see the tech landscape? Is there a tech winter?


There was a boom during the pandemic and then there are the post-pandemic effects. That is happening at a time of rising interest rates and macroeconomic pressures. If I take a slightly mid to long-term horizon, the underlying innovations in technology will continue pushing forward. We are definitely working on making sure that we are sharpening our focus through a moment like this. I think these are natural cycles that the tech industry has gone through before. It’s just a matter of time till we all work through this.

What do you think led to it? Some of the executives said that the pandemic trends they thought were here to stay did not really happen. People went back to the physical way of things.


That’s part of it. Our systems have become too complex. Between all the macroeconomic trends, the supply chain pressures, rising interest rates, the war in Ukraine, you have had a confluence of factors. To the point you mentioned about what looked like a real shift during pandemic, some of it is going back to normal but some of it is here to stay. The shift to digital is a very, very important trend. If you go back to the pre-pandemic era, some things have accelerated. Digital meetings, healthcare clinics, eHealth visits, and digital payments are all definitely here to stay.

Your workforce tends to have strong views. How stressful are those kinds of situations? How do you deal with workforces which have strong, strong views?


I have always valued input from our employees. I feel fortunate our employees feel very engaged. As a CEO, I feel it’s a privilege to have employees who care deeply about the company. We have always been very clear about the work we. We do take input, but ultimately, we do work with governments, including on projects like that (Project Maven). So, I think it’s important that you are clear about your principles and values. I think it’s important to keep an open ear so that you are listening to feedback. Ultimately, we have to make decisions consistent with our principles, values and strategy as a company.

What is your sense of how India is doing as an advertisement market? And what are your views on governments forcing companies to share revenue with news organisations?


We have always deeply cared about the value, the importance of news and journalistic content. Around the world we are leaning in. We have built new products and we are raising the role of authoritative information across our products. We will continue to do that. It’s really important we do it well.

Your thoughts on metaverse? What does it look like?


I do think computing will continue to evolve. We have been thinking about it (metaverse and augmented reality) for a while. You already see us build the next-generation augmented reality (AR) experiences into our services, be it multi-search Google lens or maps with an immersive view. These are all AR experiences, taking into account the real world. Obviously down the line, we will have computing form factors which will evolve beyond phones. That vision of AR we are excited about. We think about it as a platform like we have done with mobile. We are investing a lot there to get it right.

What does Web 3.0 look like? Will it change the way the internet looks or is it too early to predict?


If I take a 10-year time frame, the web will continue to evolve. There are some aspects of technologies like blockchain which need to be solved more efficiently and at scale.

The world is no more boundaryless. Geopolitical situations such as the Russia-Ukraine war have fragmented the internet. How do technology companies evolve with this new reality?


There are aspects of the digital world which will reflect the reality of how countries are organised. So, you will have some impact. We have been dealing with it for a long time as a company. I think we are going through a phase where some of these trends will play out much more stronger. This is why we have advocated for a free, open and connected internet. Hopefully, there are a set of countries with a shared set of values which make it a priority.

How do you see the future of Google? Will it largely be driven by AI in the next 5-10 years?


For many years now, we have thought of the company as an AI-first company. We have been really focused on driving innovation there. The core mission of search is already getting transformed by AI and will continue to do so. The way we are making search multimodal is based on deep AI models. So, I think that direction will continue. When I think about Google for the next 5-10 years, I think AI will end up impacting not just our core products in a deep way, but through cloud, our ability to bring AI to other organisations will end up being a big part of our progress over the next five to 10 years as well.

As AI progresses and becomes more efficient, there will be engineers and researchers who will claim AI has become sentient. As an industry leader, how do you really tackle that? Will it be a challenge?


AI is a very profound technology. As AI makes strides, you will definitely see more of these conversations. Making sure that society adapts to AI and it is beneficial to society will take a lot of effort, not just from the company but from governments, regulators, researchers and non-profit organisations. So, it has to be a multi-stakeholder model. What gives me hope is that compared to any other technology, some of these conversations are happening early enough. We have clearly articulated a set of AI principles publicly. We are working through that framework. We still have ways to go before we make all these systems work better. But my sense is you will see more of this (AI being sentient) in conversations.