Global tech giant Google believes that artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing will further revolutionise the world over the next quarter of a century. The Indian origin Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who was born in Tamil Nadu and grew up in Chennai, in a recent media said India is deeply rooted in him and is a big part of who he is.
“I view it [artificial intelligence] as the most profound technology that humanity will ever develop and work on. You know, if you think about fire or electricity or the internet, it’s like that. But I think even more profound,” Pichai, the CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet said.
On whether the Chinese model of the internet based on surveillance is in the ascendant, Pichai said the free and open internet “is being attacked”. While he didn’t refer to China directly, he said: “None of our major products and services are available in China.”
Pichai in an in-depth interview with the BBC at the Google headquarters at Silicon Valley in California was speaking about a wide range of topics, including the threat to free and open internet and further of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.
On the controversial issue of tax, he said, “We are one of the world’s largest taxpayers, if you look at on an average over the last decade, we have paid over 20% in taxes. We do pay the majority of our share of taxes in the US, where we originate and where our products are developed. I think there are good conversations and we support the global OECD conversations figuring out what is the right way to allocate taxes, this is beyond a single company to solve,” he said.
When he was also asked about his own personal tech habits and encouraged everyone to adopt ‘two-factor authentication when it comes to passwords to ensure multiple protections and admitted he is constantly changing his phone to test out new technology.
