Sundar Pichai says this about next Google CEO; Hint: It has an AI connection

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Google and its parent company Alphabet, has stated that the future boss of the tech giant will have an artificially intelligent (AI) companion by their side. Pichai was asked about Google's future leadership at the Bloomberg Tech Conference in San Francisco on Saturday, June 7 (according to US time). While the Indian-origin executive did not give out any names, he made it clear that AI tech will play a key role in taking the company forward.

'Extraordinary companion'
Pichai, who was born in Madurai, said at the conference, "Whoever is running it will have an extraordinary AI companion." Pichai has led Google for close to a decade and hasn't indicated any plans of stepping down in the near future.

On fears around AI
In the same interaction, Pichai also addressed growing concerns over AI taking up people's jobs, saying he viewed AI as a "co-pilot" and not a replacement for humans. "I just view this as making engineers dramatically more productive, getting a lot of the mundane aspects out of what they do," he said at the event.
Pichai added that Google plans to continue increasing its engineering workforce through next year.

Growing up in India
Separately, in a recent podcast with Lex Fridman, Pichai opened up about the challenges he faced while growing up in India. "We had no running water. You know, it was a massive drought. So they would get water in these trucks, maybe eight buckets per household. So me and my brother, sometimes my mom, we would wait in line, get that," the 52-year-old shared, adding that the experiences bolstered his belief that technology should be used to improve lives.