Sundar Pichai was and wasn't surprised about AI's rapid growth

Sundar Pichai is one of the most notable figures in AI. He’s the CEO of Google, and Google is one of the driving AI companies in the industry. He has spoken numerous times about the technology, in this includes speaking at the 2024 Business, Government & Society Forum. Well, when asked whether or not he was surprised about AI’s rapid growth, Sundar Pichai gave a yes-and-no answer.

Many of us are still suffering from whiplash from how quickly the tech world pivoted toward AI. Before November 2022, AI was a pretty niche subject. However, in the year 2024, that term is plastered over just about every new service coming out.

Companies are pouring billions of dollars into AI by implementing tools, training models, buying GPUs, investing in AI startups, etc. For example, Apple recently purchased an AI company called Darwin AI. So, you know that AI technology is big if even Apple is making rapid shifts.

Sundar Pichai gave a yes-and-no answer on whether he surprised about the development of AI

At the forum, Pichai was asked whether he was surprised about the rapid growth of AI technology over the last 18 months. In response to that question, he said, “Yes and no,” he continued to say, “We have definitely been thinking about this for a long time.” This statement tracks, as the company has been building large TPU (Tensor Processing Units) at scale since 2016.

So, more than half a decade before generative AI became a public term, the company was very forward-thinking with AI. This should come as no surprise. In 2016, we were introduced to the incredibly powerful Google Assistant. Since then, Google has made strides and implemented its powerful AI technology into all of these products. We’ve all witnessed the powerful AI present in Google Lens, Google Photos, Etc.

So, Pichai didn’t seem all too surprised. However, he did express that he was a bit surprised at just how rapidly it blossomed. “…maybe the pace at which society would adopt it has positively surprised as well as the scale at which the people are engaging with the technology,”.

Also, we can’t forget that, soon after ChatGPT was unveiled, Google declared a code red. So, it’s obvious that there was definitely some surprise there. In any case, AI technology is still advancing at a rapid pace, and we have no idea if the next major breakthrough is just around the corner.