Searching questions for Google boss
TV PICK OF THE WEEK
Amol Rajan Interviews
In this new series, Amol Rajan, the BBC’s media editor, interviews the global, eradefining pioneers, leaders and maverick thinkers working in politics, technology, business and culture, who are shaping our rapidly changing 21st century world.
The first episode features an in-depth and personally revealing encounter with Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
They tackle a range of topical issues – from the company’s hotly debated privacy practices and tax policies to its pioneering development in AI and Quantum Computing.
We also learn about Pichai’s stratospheric rise from a modest middleclass upbringing in India, where his family had no phone or running water, to his appointment as the $1.6 trillion tech giant’s CEO, aged just 47, with an annual pay packet ranging from $7m-$281m. Pichai talks passionately about his faith in technology and the ways in which it will help solve some of the biggest problems facing humanity, from global warming to future pandemics. He reveals his own family’s technology habits.
Rajan and Pichai bond over their shared Tamil Nadu family background and their mutual love of cricket. Their encounter ends with them bowling each other a few friendly rounds. But Rajan does not shy away from levelling some uncomfortable questions at Pichai, such as “has Google become too big?”
He also probes him about recent antitrust attacks from Republicans and Democrats, and concerns from regulators around the world. Rajan quotes some mind-boggling figures, including the company’s net profits, which doubled to $17.9bn in just three months. Is it morally right, he asks, that Alphabet is now worth $1.6 trillion, making it richer than Australia, Saudi Arabia or Switzerland?