Written by: Techub News

Introduction

On the day after Google's annual developer conference I/O 2024, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, appeared again on the flagship podcast show "Decoder" of the well-known technology media The Verge. This has become a traditional conversation after I/O. The interview took place after Google announced a large number of heavyweight updates, including AI search formats (AI Overviews), multiple new AI models (such as Veo 3, Imagine 3), and showcased prototypes of Android XR and AI glasses. In the face of the acceleration of AI technology productization, the transformation of search formats, the reshaping of the online ecosystem, and the increasingly intense regulatory and competitive environment, Sundar Pichai's comments provide critical insights for understanding Google's strategic focus and its outlook on the next generation of computing platforms.

Summary

• The transformation of the AI platform has entered a new stage of "product building," its impact will be more profound than that of mobile internet, focusing on enabling a wider range of people to create products.
• Search is evolving from "ten blue links" to AI modes that provide comprehensive answers, but Google promises to continue directing traffic to websites and believes that the total amount and consumption of online content are still growing.
• AI will give rise to new forms of hardware, such as AI glasses, with millions expected to try them in the coming year, but achieving the same level of ubiquity as smartphones will take time.
• The future "agent-first" web will be more like a series of databases, likely to be adopted more quickly on the enterprise side, while the consumer side will need to explore new value exchanges and business models.
• Google faces multiple pressures from publishers and regulators, but it insists on the fairness of its search rankings and AI responses and will not adjust results due to political pressure.

From Research to Reality: The New Stage of AI Platform Transformation

At the beginning of the interview, host Nilay Patel pointed out that this year's Google I/O gave a sense of Google's "confidence," with many technologies rapidly transforming into deliverable products. Sundar Pichai attributed this confidence to Google's "depth and breadth" in exploring AI at the frontier. He emphasized that Google has always been a deep computer science company and has long established an "AI-first" strategy, now integrating its rich research accumulation into products like never before. For example, the "Text Diffusion Model" and "World Model" mentioned at the conference represent Google's efforts in pushing technological boundaries.

Sundar Pichai reaffirmed that AI will be transformative like electricity and added that we are in a new stage of platform transformation. He compared this to the transformation of mobile internet: the mobile transition brought touchscreens, high-speed networks, and portable computing power, which in turn gave birth to an entirely new application ecosystem. The first wave of AI was about breakthroughs in foundational models like Transformers; now, we enter the second phase — the product building stage.

"This is not just about this platform helping you create more products," he explained, "more importantly, the process of creation and development itself will be more broadly open to humanity than ever before." He analogized the internet democratizing blogging and mobile devices democratizing video creation, pointing out that AI will greatly lower the threshold for software and content creation through methods like "vibe coding," unleashing creative potential akin to a "multiplier effect." Just as AJAX technology birthed dynamic web applications like Google Maps and Gmail, AI will turbocharge innovation in unprecedented ways.

The Evolution of Search and the Future of the Web

AI, especially AI presented in the form of chatbots, is profoundly changing how users obtain information, which directly impacts Google's core business — search, and the entire online ecosystem. Sundar Pichai acknowledged that search is evolving, with AI modes (AI Overviews) providing direct answers for certain queries, but he adamantly refuted claims that "the web is declining" or "Google is no longer directing traffic to websites."

He cited data that in the past two years, the number of pages Google can crawl increased by 45%, and overall web traffic continues to grow. He believes that as content creators, today's creators need to operate in a cross-platform, cross-format manner (such as simultaneously running websites, YouTube, and TikTok). The unique advantage of AI lies in its multimodal capability, enabling frictionless content translation across different formats (text, audio, video), which will unlock new opportunities. "Machines can help translate content, just like translating different languages; they can switch seamlessly."

In response to the intense criticism from organizations like news publishers about AI search "stealing content" and "cutting off traffic," Sundar Pichai stated that Google always prioritizes directing traffic to the web, which is one of the core principles of its product design. "I believe more than any other company, we think about and prioritize sending traffic to the web... We are the only company that makes it a high priority and agonizes over it." He mentioned that AI modes will also label sources, and over the long term, just like all the past 25 years of evolution of search features (such as featured snippets), it will ultimately bring more and higher-quality traffic to websites.

Regarding the rumor mentioned by the host about "search volume in Safari browser declining for the first time in 22 years," Sundar Pichai denied it, stating that the overall search query volume Google sees is still growing, including on Apple devices. He used the rise of TikTok and its failure to hinder YouTube's growth as an example, emphasizing that the current market is far from a "zero-sum game," with total user engagement and activity increasing.

The Next Steps in Intelligent Agents, AI Hardware, and Platform Competition

The conversation delved into the concept of an "agent-first web" proposed by DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis. Sundar Pichai agreed that the future web may resemble a series of structured databases for intelligent agents rather than web pages rendered for human vision. This raises a key question: will service providers like Uber and Airbnb be willing to be "abstracted" by intelligent agents, thus losing direct relationships with customers and opportunities for value-added services?

Sundar Pichai believes that the enterprise side (driven by CIOs) may adopt intelligent agents more quickly because they have clear efficiency and integration needs. On the consumer side, this will be a dynamic value-exchange process. He envisioned various possible business models: users pay agents, and agents share revenue with service platforms; or, service platforms gain larger business volumes due to participation in the agent ecosystem, offsetting the "toll" costs. He likened it to the value between retailers and credit card networks: "Merchants accept credit cards because they see the business growth from accepting credit cards exceeds the transaction fee costs... Eventually, a balance will be found."

Hardware is key to delivering new AI experiences. Sundar Pichai is excited about the prospects of AI glasses. He distinguishes between "goggles" (goggle-style headsets) and real "glasses" and revealed that products developed in partnership with Gentle Monster, Warby Parker, and others will be delivered to developers later this year, as these products are close to the final form. He predicts that while it may not reach the ubiquity of the iPhone next year, "millions will try" it will become a reality. Regarding news of Jony Ive collaborating with OpenAI to develop "future computing devices," he welcomed the competition and views it as illustrating the vast current space for innovation, predicting that many companies and product categories that we cannot imagine today will emerge in the future.

When asked whether smartphones and laptops might become "legacy platforms," he gave a pragmatic response: computing will become more ubiquitous and contextual. Users will seamlessly switch between various devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, workstations, and even glasses, as needed. Although constantly staring at a black glass rectangle in the future may not be the most ideal interaction method, such a transition will take time.

Moving Forward Amid Regulation, Pressure, and Trust

The latter part of the interview addressed the severe external environment facing Google. Regarding the antitrust lawsuit where the U.S. Department of Justice might request Google to sell the Chrome browser, Sundar Pichai did not directly answer "what would happen if asked to sell" but emphasized Chrome and the open-source project Chromium's contributions to advancing Web technology development, security, and innovation, stating that Google, as a foundational technology company, will continue to invest and innovate under any circumstances.

In the face of the host's pointed political question — whether the search rankings or AI responses would be adjusted due to former President Trump's public complaints or potential political pressure — Sundar Pichai provided a clear negative answer. "No... The way Google Search works today, no Google employee can influence the ranking algorithm." He emphasized that Google's ranking mechanism is "sacrosanct," and the AI mode's responses adhere to the same high standard principles, adjusted only based on broad systemic feedback, not individual cases or political pressures. He cited data showing that the error rate of AI Overviews in adversarial real queries is about one in seven million, a high standard Google consistently strives to maintain.

Regarding whether changes to government website content (like CDC pages) would affect their status as authoritative sources, he explained that Google does not manually assess the authority of each page but relies on algorithmic signals like PageRank (such as links from other websites) to make judgments, so it will not proactively conduct such re-evaluations.

Looking Forward to the Next Wave: Self-Evolution and Fusion with the Physical World

Finally, Sundar Pichai looked ahead to the next phase of AI platform transformation he foresees. He believes that the most profound trait of AI is its self-improvement capability, citing the example of AlphaGo achieving levels beyond human capabilities in a short period from scratch. He is optimistic about AI's tremendous potential in fields such as drug discovery and disease treatment.

However, he pointed out that the truly next significant platform shift will be the moment when AI deeply integrates with the physical world through robotics. While Waymo's self-driving cars are already a form of robotics, he referred to more generalized robotics. When AI creates a "magical moment" combined with robotics, society will experience another significant platform shift. This indicates that the intelligence of the online world will ultimately extend into and profoundly change our physical living environments.

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