Connecting with Google CEO Sundar Pichai at I/O every year is one of my favorite Decoder traditions. This was our fifth year doing it, and there’s always a whole slew of new things to talk about.
This year, in addition to the news, we talked about Google Zero; picking fights with YouTube creators and publishers; and what being at “the foothills of the singularity" even means.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
If Google can’t make AI agents useful, maybe no one can | The Verge
The future of Google is a search box that does everything | The Verge
Large language mistake | The Verge
You can now remix other people’s YouTube Shorts with AI | The Verge
Condé Nast calls Google Zero | The Verge
Demis Hassabis said this may be the ‘foothills of the singularity’ | The Verge
Google I/O 2026: All the news and announcements | The Verge
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Kabir Chopra. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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This week, we headed to Mountain View, Calif., for the annual developer event Google I/O. We share our reactions to Google’s biggest announcements, including a revamped search box, new agentic tools that compete with OpenClaw and an updated flash model of Gemini that the company says is faster than competitors. Then, we ask Sundar Pichai, the company’s chief executive, how he’s responding to growing evidence that the public is souring on A.I., what advice he’d give to college grads frightened by the current job market and where the company stands relative to competitors in the A.I. race. Finally, we run through the other big tech headlines of the week in our segment System Update.
Guest:
Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google.
Additional Reading:
Google Changes Its Search Box for the First Time in 25 Years
How Google Is Starting to Win the A.I. Race
Elon Musk Loses $150 Billion Suit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman
Before Mass Layoffs, Meta Reassigns 7,000 Workers to Focus on A.I.
Pope to Launch Encyclical on AI Alongside Anthropic Co-Founder
Was a Story That Just Won a Literary Prize A.I.-Generated?
Book on Truth in the Age of A.I. Contains Quotes Made Up by A.I.
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Sundar Pichai is CEO of Google and Alphabet.
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) – Introduction
(00:07) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(07:55) – Growing up in India
(14:04) – Advice for young people
(15:46) – Styles of leadership
(20:07) – Impact of AI in human history
(32:17) – Veo 3 and future of video
(40:01) – Scaling laws
(43:46) – AGI and ASI
(50:11) – P(doom)
(57:02) – Toughest leadership decisions
(1:08:09) – AI mode vs Google Search
(1:21:00) – Google Chrome
(1:36:30) – Programming
(1:43:14) – Android
(1:48:27) – Questions for AGI
(1:53:42) – Future of humanity
(1:57:04) – Demo: Google Beam
(2:04:46) – Demo: Google XR Glasses
(2:07:31) – Biggest invention in human history
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In what's become a bit of a Decoder tradition, I spoke with Google CEO Sundar Pichai in person after I/O. The conference this year was all about AI, particularly a slew of actual AI products, not just models and capabilities.
To Sundar, this marks the beginning of a new era for search and the web overall. So I had to ask: what happens to the web when AI tools and eventually agents do most of the browsing for us? It was a very Decoder conversation. Read the full transcript here.
Links:
Help us plan the future of Decoder! | AUDIENCE SURVEY
The 15 biggest announcements at Google I/O 2025 | Verge
We tried on Google’s prototype AI smart glasses | Verge
AI Mode is obviously the future of Google Search | Verge
News publishers call Google’s AI Mode ‘theft’ | Verge
Details leak about Jony Ive’s OpenAI device | Verge
DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open monopoly | Verge
Google Zero is here — now what? | Verge
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is okay reinventing the bus | Decoder
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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(0:00) David Friedberg welcomes Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai
(2:58) Will AI kill search?: Google disrupting itself, evolving search to follow the user
(15:32) Infrastructure advantage, foundational model differentiation
(25:08) Future of human-computer interaction, hardware, competitive landscape in AI
(35:29) Energy constraints in AI
(41:20) Google's progress in quantum computing and robotics
(47:56) Culture, coddling, and talent recruitment in the age of AI
(56:50) Does he consider Alphabet a holding company searching for Google's next $100B business?
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Today, I’m talking to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who joined the show the day after the big Google I/O developer conference. Google’s focus during the conference was on how it’s building AI into virtually all of its products. If you’re a Decoder listener, you’ve heard me talk about this idea a lot over the past year: I call it “Google Zero,” and I’ve been asking a lot of web and media CEOs what would happen to their businesses if their Google traffic were to go to zero. In a world where AI powers search with overviews and summaries, that’s a real possibility. What then happens to the web?
I’ve talked to Sundar quite a bit over the past few years, and this was the most fired up I’ve ever seen him. I think you can really tell that there is a deep tension between the vision Google has for the future — where AI magically makes us smarter, more productive, more artistic — and the very real fears and anxieties creators and website owners are feeling right now about how search has changed and how AI might swallow the internet forever, and that he’s wrestling with that tension.
Links:
Google and OpenAI are racing to rewire the internet — Command Line
Google I/O 2024: everything announced — The Verge
Google is redesigning its search engine, and it’s AI all the way down — The Verge
Project Astra is the future of AI at Google — The Verge
Did SEO experts ruin the internet or did Google? — The Verge
YouTube is going to start cracking down on AI clones of musicians — The Verge
AI is killing the old web, and the new web struggles to be born — The Verge
How Google is killing independent sites like ours — HouseFresh
Inside the First 'SEO Heist' of the AI Era — Business Insider
Google’s Sundar Pichai talks Search, AI, and dancing with Microsoft — Decoder
Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23922415
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Nilay Patel, editor in chief of The Verge, talks to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet about what he thinks of the future of search, and his vision for Google.Listen to more from Nilay in the feed of Decoder with Nilay Patel.
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Drive. Docs. Chrome. Maps. Gmail. Android. What do these products have in common? Of course, they’re all Google, but what you may not know is that they all came to fruition under the management of the same person: Sundar Pichai. This track record in product development ultimately landed Sundar the CEO role at one of the biggest, most innovative companies in the world.
This week on How I Built This Lab, Sundar reflects on the unique journey that led him to Google, and the values that inspire and drive his leadership today. He and Guy also discuss Google’s recent advances in artificial intelligence, and how the company is reimagining the workplace as offices across the globe reopen.
This episode was produced by Carla Esteves, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.
Edited by John Isabella.
Our audio engineer was Neal Rauch.
You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Hello and welcome to Decoder. I’m Nilay Patel, editor in chief of The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas, and other problems.
We have a special episode today – I’m talking to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet. We hung out the day after Google IO, the company’s big developer conference, where Sundar introduced new generative AI features in virtually all of the company’s products.
It’s an important moment for Google, which invented a lot of the core technology behind the current AI moment – the company is quick to point out the T in chatGPT stands for Transformer, the large language model tech first which was invented at Google. But openAI and others have been first to market with generative AI products — and openAI in particular has partnered with Microsoft on a new version of Bing that feels like the first real competitor to Google search in a long time.
So I wanted to know what Sundar thinks of this moment – and in particular, what he thinks of the future of search, which is the heart of Google’s business. Web search right now can be pretty hit or miss, right? There’s a lot of weird content farms out there, and AI-based search might be able to just answer questions in a more natural way. But that means remaking the web, and really, remaking Google.
Sundar is already going down that path – he just reorganized Google and Alphabet’s AI teams, moving a company called DeepMind inside Google and merging it with the Google Brain AI group to form a new unit called Google DeepMind. I can’t resist an org chart question, so we talked about why he made that call – and how he made it.
We also talked about Sundar’s vision for Google – where he wants it to go, and what’s driving his ambition to take the company into the future.
This is a jam-packed episode – we talked about a lot, and I didn’t even get to Google’s AI metadata plans, or what’s going on with RCS and Android. Maybe next time.
Links:
The nine biggest announcements from Google I/O 2023
What happens when Google Search doesn't have the answers?
Microsoft thinks AI can beat Google at search — CEO Satya Nadella explains why
Let’s chat about RCS - The Verge
Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23484772
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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.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Drive. Docs. Chrome. Maps. Gmail. Android. What do these products have in common? Of course, they’re all Google, but what you may not know is that they all came to fruition under the management of the same person: Sundar Pichai. This track record in product development ultimately landed Sundar the CEO role at one of the biggest, most innovative companies in the world.
This week on How I Built This Lab, Sundar reflects on the unique journey that led him to Google, and the values that inspire and drive his leadership today. He and Guy also discuss Google’s recent advances in artificial intelligence, and how the company is reimagining the workplace as offices across the globe reopen.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nilay Patel and David Pierce interview Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai after Google announcing a bunch of products at their I/O conference.
34:25 - Dan Seifert joins the show to discuss the hardware previewed at Google I/O 2022.
55:38 - Liz Lopatto explains "the crypto crash" in this week's Crypto Corner.
1:07:19 - Alex Cranz hops in to run through this week's gadget rumors, reviews, and announcements.
Further reading:
Google is making an Android-based Pixel tablet and plans to start selling it in 2023
Google finally announces the Pixel Watch
The Pixel 6A includes Google’s Tensor chipset and costs $449
Here’s an early look at the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro coming this fall
Google’s vision for Android 13 is to offer a little more of everything
Google’s new Pixel Buds Pro come with noise cancellation and long battery life
Google thinks the time is right to bring back Wallet
Google Chrome is getting built-in virtual credit cards
Apple will drop iPhone Lightning port in favor of USB-C in 2023, claims analyst
Apple discontinues the iPod after 20 years
Sony WH-1000XM5 review: new design, new sound, new price - The Verge
Mark Zuckerberg’s Project Cambria demo shows off its full-color passthrough - The Verge
Samsung’s next flagship foldable allegedly leaks
Samsung and LG preview the future of weird phone displays
DJI officially announces Mini 3 Pro
Aura Strap 2 review: context — you love to see it
Ford F-150 Lightning first drive: quiet storm
Dish’s upcoming wireless plan might let you buy an iPhone with crypto
Josh Hawley wants to punish Disney by taking copyright law back to 1909 and that sucks
UiPath CEO Daniel Dines thinks automation can fight the great resignation
Ploopy and the promise of an open-source trackball
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Google I/O was this week and Nilay Patel and David Pierce had a chance to sit down with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to talk about the event and the products that were announced. This interview was recorded for The Vergecast, another podcast from The Verge. You can listen to The Vergecast wherever you get your podcasts – or just click here.
We hope you enjoyed the interview. Decoder will be back again on Tuesday with an all new episode. See you then.
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Dieter Bohn sits down with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and SVP of Devices and Services at Google Rick Osterloh to discuss the launch of the Pixel 6 — including its tensor processing chip, the Android ecosystem, and what makes this Pixel launch different from the rest.
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Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway talk about the growing power of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon during the COVID-19 pandemic. Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai joins to talk about Google’s impact on society, its feud with Fortnite maker Epic Games, whether he believes America is headed in the right direction, and more; then, Columbia University professor Tim Wu talks with Kara and Scott about the future of tech antitrust, how China has run circles around the US in tech policy, and why Facebook faces the greatest legal risk; finally, The Verge’s Casey Newton drops in to discuss the TikTok acquisition drama, disinformation on Facebook, and Joe Biden’s plan to repeal section 230 of the CDA. Plus: Comedian Roy Wood Jr. has some predictions about Apple's next iPhone.
Get your Pivot Schooled hats, mugs, shirts and more at PivotSchooled.com/Shop.
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Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel and executive editor Dieter Bohn interview Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Pichai disusses Google’s COVID-19 response: the way the company is handling the pandemic and how he’s working with Tim Cook from Apple on exposure tracking.
They also talked about how he is running one of the biggest companies in the world remotely and how the company is handling employees working from home
Of course they talk about their products and services: the future of the Pixel, competing with companies like Apple and Samsung, and RCS messaging.
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Recode's Kara Swisher and MSNBC's Ari Melber interview Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki in this episode of 'Revolution,' which first aired on MSNBC in January. Make sure to tune in this Friday for a new episode of 'Revolution,' in which Swisher and Chris Hayes interview Apple CEO Tim Cook about education, privacy, DACA and more; that episode airs on MSNBC on Friday, April 6 at 5:00 p.m. PT, 8:00 p.m. ET.
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