Pichai says that “all of us, including the government, are aligned on humans in the loop, and the technology not being used for mass surveillance in a way that contradicts human rights.” Asked to respond to Samburov, he says: “I think it’s a very nuanced issue. We all have a role responsibly, to invest in the national security of democracies around the world … I think we’ve long, more than any other company in the world, had a culture where employees speak up.” 

(Three weeks later, Google announced a deal with the Pentagon, who will now use Google’s AI models for “classified work.” The decision was met with another wave of criticism from employees, including one Google DeepMind research scientist who called it “shameful” on X.) 

When pressed about these challenges, Pichai’s answer is uniform: the technology needs to be rolled out first gradually, and then modified by companies and governments based on real-world feedback. This approach turns users into guinea pigs. But Pichai is convinced that it is better than the alternative—especially as AI tools become increasingly powerful and disruptive. He cites Waymo as an example of a seemingly dangerous AI project that Google has rolled out slowly and safely. “The last thing you want to do is to not use it, not see any of these behaviors, and then just have a powerful model and get surprised,” he says. “So I think it’s important we are working through these things.”

Skeptics of Pichai’s ambitions might consider his record. Over the past decade, he foresaw the rise of video-content creators, self-driving cars, and mainstream AI tools, despite being told they were a distraction. Now Google controls every level of the AI stack: research, chips, cloud, software, hardware. “Among the existing public companies, they’re the best positioned, because they have more pieces than anybody,” says Munster. The company also has a massive amount of cash, announcing in February that it could double its spending on capital expenditures this year to over $175 billion. 

Pichai is already looking toward new frontiers. On Google’s campus, excited employees walk me through a set of demos for drone delivery through Wing, hologram-like video calls via Beam, and AI-powered glasses. Together with Google’s many other Gemini products, they trace the outline of a single animating idea: a personalized AI that knows you better than anyone. The idea unnerves critics but thrills its architects. “We talk about it as a kind of universal assistant that would be on your phone, your laptop, your TV screen, your watch, your glasses,” says Josh Woodward, who leads Google Labs and the Gemini app. 

Further out on Pichai’s horizon are goals like bringing humanoid robots into every home; launching data centers into space; and accelerating quantum computing, which could lead to breakthroughs in cancer treatment and climate modeling. It’s easy to dismiss all that as sci-fi corporate hype. But people said that about Pichai’s 2016 AI declaration. A decade later, he remains convinced that if his company focuses on the users, everything else will click into place—no matter what washes up in the wake. 

“I have a lot of trust in people and their ability to use and adapt to technology,” he says. “We will need frameworks unlike we’ve ever had before. But I expect humanity to rise to the moment.”

Stylist: Courtney Mays; Set Design: Pakayla Rae and Alex Welsh