The Existential Risk of Google's Slow Growth

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Google is in the position of an incumbent. It has this huge profitable search business that it doesn't want to diminish or leave behind any way. And so they have to somehow figure out like, how do we capitalize on generative AI without destroying our own search business? But I am not as certain as you are that there is a real existential risk here, although there might be. There is a real generational opportunity though, that if they figure this out, there is a chance they become an even more enormous company than they are today.

For years, Google was seen as one of the most cutting-edge developers of A.I. But, with OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT, and other chatbots beating Google to market, is that distinction still the case? Google’s chief executive is in an unenviable position: Scramble to catch up or, in the face of potentially harmful technology, move slowly.

Today, Sundar Pichai on Google’s delicate balance between A.I. innovation and safety.

On today’s episode:

Sundar Pichai is the chief executive of Google.

Additional reading:

The launch of ChatGPT caused a ‘code red’ inside Google and prompted the release of Google’s Bard.
More than 1,000 technology leaders and researchers signed onto an open letter calling for a pause in the development of A.I.