Google CEO Sundar Pichai reacted to comments made by Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, who had referred to the search engine as an "800-pound gorilla" and how with their innovation, they can make Google come out and dance.
Reacting to Nadella's words, Pichai said that listening to outside noise and playing somebody else's dance music was one of the ways of going wrong. "I think one of the ways you can do the wrong thing is by listening to the noise out there and playing someone else’s dance music," Pichai said in an interview to Bloomberg.
Pichai reiterated that he and Google had clarity about what they were doing and they were "listening to their own music." "I've always been very clear. I think we have a clear sense of what we need to do," he said.
"So you are listening to your own music?"
"That’s exactly right," Pichai said.
"I'm trying to keep focused and not play to someone else’s dance music. People tend to focus on this micro-moment, but it is so small in the context of what’s ahead. When I look at the opportunities ahead, across everything we do, I put a lot of chips, at least from my perspective, on Google," he added.
The 51-year-old added that he was aware about the competition everywhere and innovation was the only way to stay ahead of the competitors.
"We see it all the time. The way you stay ahead is by innovating relentlessly. It has to be true all the time. It’s happening at a faster pace. Technology changes tend to get faster over time. So its not surprising to me at all," Pichai said.
At the launch of the artificial intelligence-boosted Bing search engine, Nadella had said that he wanted others to know when Microsoft makes Google dance, that would be a great day for everyone.
"We competed today. Today was a day where we brought some more competition to search. Believe me, I’ve been at it for 20 years, and I’ve been waiting for it. At the end of the day, they’re the 800-pound gorilla in this. That is what they are."
"And I hope that, with our innovation, they will definitely want to come out and show that they can dance. And I want people to know that we made them dance, and I think that’ll be a great day," Nadella said.
The race to becoming the leader in the field of artificial intelligence may not be the sole reason that might give Pichai a sleepless night or two as his company continues to grapple with layoffs, that has been coupled by a difficulty in hiring fresh recruits.
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