Watch Full l Google CEO Sundar Pichai address at AI Impact Summit 2026

Sundar Pichai
1 follower
AI Generated·May contain errors
Namaste. Thank you, Prime Minister Modi and distinguished leaders. It's wonderful to be
back in India. Every time I visit, I'm struck by the pace of change and today is no different.
Back when I was a student, I often took the Coromandel Express train from Chennai up to
IIT Kharagpur. To get there, we passed through Vishakhapatnam, Vizag. I remember it being a
quiet and modest coastal city brimming with potential. Now in that same city, Google is
establishing a full-stack AI hub, part of our $15 billion infrastructure investment in India.
When finished, this hub will house gigawatt-scale compute and a new international subsea cable
gateway, bringing jobs and cutting-edge AI to people and businesses across India.
Sitting on that train, I never imagined Vizag becoming a global AI hub, just as I couldn't
have imagined that one day I'd be spending time with teams figuring out how to put data centers
into space or taking my parents for a fully autonomous car ride in San Francisco. Seeing
Avemo right through my 83-year-old dad's eyes, I saw the progress in a whole new light.
Of course, he said he'd be more impressed if it worked on India's busy roads.
The progress shows what's possible when humanity dreams big. And no technology has me dreaming
bigger than AI. It is the biggest platform shift of our lifetimes. We are on the cusp of
hyper-progress and new discoveries that can help emerging economies leapfrog legacy gaps.
But that outcome is neither guaranteed nor automatic. To build AI that is truly helpful
for everyone, we must pursue it boldly, approach it responsibly, and work through this defining
moment together. Why bold? Because AI can improve billions of lives and solve some of the hardest
problems in science. For 50 years, predicting protein structures was a grand challenge and a
blind spot that stalled drug discovery. Demis Hassabis and his team at Google DeepMind asked
an audacious question, how could we use AI to solve this? That question led to AlphaFold.
This breakthrough didn't just win a Nobel Prize, it compressed decades of research into a database
that is now open to the world. Today, over 3 million researchers in more than 190 countries
are using it to develop malaria vaccines, fight antibiotic resistance,
and much more. And we are asking similarly bold questions across the scientific stack,
from cataloging DNA disease markers to building AI agents that act as true partners in the scientific
method. We must be equally bold in tackling problems in regions that have lacked access
to technology. Take El Salvador, where Google has partnered with the government to bring
affordable AI-powered diagnosis and treatment to thousands who could never afford to see a doctor.
Or in India, where our work together is helping farmers protect their livelihoods in the face of
monsoons. Last summer, for the first time, the Indian government sent AI-powered forecasts to
millions of farmers, possible in part because of our neural GCM model. I see language inclusion
as another exciting ambition. In Ghana, we are collaborating with universities and NGOs
to expand research and open source tools across more than 20 African languages.
We need this bold thinking in more places to tackle more problems across health, education,
economic opportunity, and more. Technology brings incredible benefits, but we must ensure
everyone has access to them. We cannot allow the digital divide to become an AI divide.
That means investing in compute infrastructure and connectivity. I mentioned our Vizag investment,
and we have others in Thailand, Malaysia, and more. We are also building a vast network of
subsea fiber optic cables, including four new systems between the U.S. and India,
as part of our America-India Connect initiative announced yesterday. Responsibility also means
navigating profound economic shifts. AI will undeniably reshape the workforce,
automating some roles, evolving others, and creating entirely new careers. 20 years ago,
the concept of a professional YouTube creator didn't exist. Today, there are millions around
the world. Training is crucial. We have trained 100 million people in digital skills, and our new
Google AI professional certificate will help people master AI in their jobs available globally.
Finally, trust is the bedrock of adoption. We have created tools like SynthID used by journalists
and citizen fact-checkers globally to help verify the authenticity of the content you read and see.
But no matter how bold we are or how responsible, we won't realize AI's full benefits
unless we work together. Governments have a vital role that includes us regulators,
setting important rules of the road, and addressing key risks.
And importantly, also as innovators, bringing AI to public services that improve lives and
accelerating adoption of these technologies for people and businesses. There are glimmers of this
from around the globe, from the Ugandan government using AI and satellite imagery to locate priority
areas for electrification, to getting portals fixed for residents more efficiently in Memphis,
Tennessee, by using AI scans of road surfaces from buses. Tech companies must also step up,
building products that boost knowledge, creativity, and productivity to help people
achieve their dreams. And we also need companies of all sizes thinking about this, harnessing AI
to innovate and transform their businesses and sectors, and to skill up and empower workers.
We have the opportunity to improve lives at a once-in-a-generation scale. I know we have the
capability to do this, and looking at the leaders here today, I believe we also have the wealth.
Now we must do the work together. Thank you.
