Google CEO Sundar Pichai on AI: We Will Have To Work Through Societal Disruptions, “People Will Need To Adapt”
Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said AI will cause “societal disruptions” and warned of some “irrationality” in the current boom in an interview with BBC’s Faisal Islam. “We can look back at the internet right now,” Pichai said. “There was clearly a lot of excess investment, but none of us would question whether the internet was profound. I expect AI to be the same. So I think it’s both rational and there are elements of irrationality through a moment like this.”
FAISAL ISLAM, BBC: The value and productivity kind of offer to companies that are buying all your goods and your services is to automate many human tasks, is it not? SUNDAR PICHAI, GOOGLE CEO: Let me put it this way, right? I think people today are juggling many things, right? And people are overloaded. We’ve always had back in the history, you know, it could be a dishwasher coming to your home. I remember growing up, you know, you know, when we got our first refrigerator in the home, that how much it radically changed my mom’s life, right? And so you can view it as it automating some, but you know, it freed her up to do other things, right? ISLAM: And many people, many aspirational middle classes across the West are thinking, hang on a minute, it’s affecting lawyers jobs, it’s affecting creative industries, it’s affecting accounting jobs, it’s affecting journalism, too. And they’re surprised by it. And they’re wondering, do you know, do you know which jobs are going to be safer? PICHAI: Two things. One is first of all, I think with any, you know, I said many years ago, AI is the most profound technology humanity is ever working on. And it has potential for extraordinary benefits. And we will have to work through societal disruptions, you know, it’ll end up creating new opportunities. As an example, I think anybody just like YouTube has done, anybody can will be able to create content, you know, you could be a high school student, and a few years down, maybe envision a feature length movie and make it right, that’s extraordinary. So it will create new opportunities, it will evolve and transition certain jobs, right, and people will need to adapt. And then there will be areas where it will impact some jobs. So as a society, I think we need to be having those conversations. And part of it is how do you develop this technology responsibly, and give society time to adapt as we absorb this technology? I think these are all very, very important and fair questions.
