Google CEO reveals AI search evolution in interview

In a revealing conversation published just three days ago on May 16, 2025, Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared unprecedented insights into how artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming Google Search. The extensive interview, conducted by David Friedberg of the All-In Podcast, provided a rare glimpse into Google's strategic approach to integrating AI into its core products while maintaining competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded field.

Pichai directly addressed concerns about whether Google risks disruption from competing AI technologies. "You know I've definitely for almost a decade, one of the first things I did was to think of the company as AI first. It was very clear to us. We had Google Brain underway in 2012, we acquired DeepMind in 2014. 2015 when I became the CEO I said look, the technology is really evolving. The reason we were excited to approach our work as AI first is because we really felt that AI is what will drive the biggest progress in search."

The interview revealed significant advancements in Google's search capabilities through AI implementation. "We launched AI overviews about a year ago, it's now being used by over one and a half billion users in over 150 countries. It's expanding the types of queries people can type in, and we see it empirically—the nature of queries is expanded. So there are whole new use cases coming into search," explained Pichai.

Perhaps most notably, Pichai disclosed an upcoming feature still in testing phase. "We're testing it in labs, this whole new dedicated AI experience called AI mode coming to search. We'll speak about it more at Google I/O, and in AI mode, you can have a full-on AI experience in search, including follow-on conversational queries. And we're bringing our cutting-edge models there where the models are actually working to answer your questions using search as a real native tool."

This revelation indicates Google's recognition that search behavior is changing significantly with AI integration. "The queries people are typing in, queries like literally long paragraphs. The average query length is somewhere two to three times what we see in search as it existed two years ago," said Pichai, demonstrating how user interaction with search is evolving rapidly.

A critical component of Google's AI strategy lies in its infrastructure investments. Pichai explained how Google's long-term commitment to building proprietary hardware has positioned the company advantageously in the AI race.

"One of the ways we look at the Pareto frontier of performance and cost, Google literally is on the Pareto frontier. So we deliver the best models at the most cost-effective price point. And our Flash series of models are a real workhorse in the industry. And part of why we are able to do that is because we train and serve our models on our infrastructure including TPUs. And we are in our seventh generation of TPUs, and we built our first version in 2017."

The scale of Google's compute infrastructure is staggering. "Ironwood, which is our latest in our TPU series, a single part of Ironwood is over 40 exaflops," Pichai noted, highlighting the enormous computational capabilities Google has developed.

When asked about capital expenditure, Pichai provided insight into how Google's massive $75 billion investment in 2025 is being allocated. "On the $75 billion in capex for 2025, obviously the majority of that goes into servers, data centers and so on. Servers being the vast portion of it," he explained, before adding that "half of that is going towards our cloud business in 2025."

Energy Constraint

In a particularly insightful portion of the conversation, Pichai identified electricity supply as the most significant constraint for AI advancement, rather than technological limitations.

"When you look at any system, you want to find where the constraint is because that's what gates the whole system. And you are rightfully identifying the most likely constraint for AI progress, and hence by definition GDP growth and all that stuff. So I do worry about it a lot."

However, Pichai expressed optimism about overcoming these energy challenges: "We already know the technologies that can work to supply the demand we need. So it's more to me an execution challenge." He emphasized that "we shouldn't have innovator's dilemma in the energy sector. So we should lean into all the possible innovations ahead, and there are many of them. Obviously, first of all, people perpetually I think will underestimate solar. Solar plus batteries will end up being huge. Obviously, the amount of innovation that's going into nuclear, geothermal, all of that are opportunities to embrace."

These comments reflect the understanding within Google that scaling AI capabilities depends heavily on solving energy production and distribution challenges, not just technological advancements.

Pichai offered a measured assessment of the competitive landscape in AI, acknowledging the strengths of key rivals while expressing confidence in Google's position.

When asked specifically about competitors like OpenAI, xAI, Meta, and Microsoft, Pichai responded diplomatically: "By definition, it's a very impressive group. And I think I think you're talking about some of the best companies, some of the best entrepreneurs." He added, "It shows how much progress we are going to see because you're basically talking about many people who are working hard to drive that progress."

Pichai's perspective on competition reflected a belief that the AI market will expand rather than be dominated by a single winner: "At the end of the day, I love driving technology progress in a way that impacts people positively. When you think about areas like healthcare and other important areas, education, we are now talking about this is why AI is so profound. So the opportunity is what excites me. I think all of us are going to do well in this scenario. That's how I think about it."

Looking ahead, Pichai shared his vision for how humans will interact with computers in an AI-driven future. "The answer has got to be you know we've always, humans have adapted to computing and it's always been that way. But over time the answer will be that you need to do less of the hard work, less of the adaptation, and computing kind of works for you. And that's the holy grail I think, and we are making progress."

Pichai specifically highlighted augmented reality as a pivotal development: "When I wear AR glasses, I already wear glasses so it's not that, but the AR glasses aren't quite as comfortable as my normal glasses but they're getting there. It's obvious to me that that'll push it to the next level of seamlessness where it kind of is ambiently there and doing stuff for you."

He suggested that the next major leap in computing interfaces might be just a few product cycles away: "We still have a little bit of system integration challenges to work through. So we have maybe couple cycles away to get to that sweet spot what smartphones were in around 2006-2007."

Quantum Computing and Robotics

Pichai also discussed Google's continued investment in emerging technologies like quantum computing and robotics, areas where the company has maintained a long-term strategic focus despite limited public attention.

On quantum computing, Pichai drew a parallel to the earlier stages of AI development: "To me, quantum feels like where AI was around 2015. So I would say in a 5-year time frame you would have that moment where some really useful practical computation is done in a quantum way far superior to classical computers, and that'll be that aha moment."

Similarly, with robotics, Pichai indicated that AI advancements are finally creating the conditions for significant breakthroughs: "We are definitely for robotics. We again have probably one of the most advanced frontier R&D teams in the world now. And the Gemini robotics efforts around vision language action models etc. are world class."

He noted that previous attempts to commercialize robotics may have been premature: "We tried the application layer too early, where I think robotics wasn't really being influenced by AI as much. But now it's really the combination of AI plus robotics that gives that next sweet spot."

Pichai expressed optimism about impending breakthroughs in robotics: "When I look at the progress of humanoid robots, I mean they are in the past I would say, 'Oh, these this is obviously you can see how janky they are.' Now I have to take 5 seconds to look at it and say closely and say, 'Is this fake or is this an actual robot doing it?' Already I'm in that moment, and so you can see the progress in the field underway. So I think we are probably two to three years away from that magical moment in robotics too."

Corporate Culture

Addressing questions about Google's corporate culture, Pichai defended the company's emphasis on employee empowerment while acknowledging the need for clearer direction.

"The underpinnings of a culture in which you really invest in employees and you empower them, and even some of the perks, was to create a culture where it's positive, optimistic, you're in an innovation mindset, people are talking to each other. Maybe by giving lunch here, people are all sitting and talking ideas through lunch, you're cross-pollinating. That is the thesis of it, not that we are trying to give lunch to people. And so till today, I feel we still get a lot of innovation in the company at all levels of the company."

However, Pichai mentioned that the company's rapid growth created communication challenges: "One of the lessons for me was we all grew so much that you assumed everyone always understood those underpinnings. But then when you added so many people, you realize you have to go back and repeat that a lot to help people internalize that."

Why This Matters

For marketing professionals, these revelations have significant implications. The evolution of search into a more conversational, AI-driven experience means marketers must fundamentally rethink their search strategies. Content optimized for traditional keyword searches may become less effective as users increasingly engage with search through natural language conversations and longer queries.

The emergence of "AI mode" in Google Search suggests that providing comprehensive, conversational content that answers related follow-up questions will become increasingly important. Marketers who can anticipate the extended conversation paths users might take when exploring topics related to their products or services will likely see advantages in visibility.

Additionally, as AI-powered search provides more direct answers to users' questions, the competition for visibility will intensify. Brands will need to focus on becoming trusted information sources that AI systems recognize as authoritative, necessitating an even stronger emphasis on expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

The interview also indicates that marketers should prepare for significant shifts in how users interact with devices and information. As Pichai's comments on AR suggest, visual discovery and ambient computing experiences will likely become increasingly important touchpoints for brands.

Timeline

• 2012: Google Brain initiative launched
• 2014: Google acquired DeepMind
• 2015: Sundar Pichai becomes CEO, declares Google "AI first" company
• 2017: First version of Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) developed
• 2024: AI Overviews launched in Google Search, now reaching 1.5 billion users in 150+ countries
• 2025 (May): Announcement of "AI mode" for Google Search in testing
• Next 3-5 years: Expected breakthroughs in quantum computing applications
• Next 2-3 years: Anticipated "magical moment" in robotics advancements