Don’t let digital divide become AI divide: Google CEO Sundar Pichai

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the Google AI event in New Delhi. (Courtesy: PTI photo)

The world cannot afford to let the digital divide morph into an 'AI divide', and the full benefits of artificial intelligence will only be realised if governments, companies and societies work together, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, positioning India at the heart of Google’s next wave of AI investment.

Speaking before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and global leaders, Pichai said AI represents the biggest platform shift of our lifetimes — but its promise is neither automatic nor guaranteed.

“No matter how bold we are or how responsible, we won’t realize AI’s full benefits unless we work together,” he said, calling for coordinated action across public and private sectors.

Governments, Pichai said, must serve as both regulators and innovators — bringing AI into public services while setting clear guardrails. Companies, meanwhile, must build tools that boost knowledge, productivity and creativity, while businesses across sectors must adopt AI to remain competitive.

With India emerging as a central node in Alphabet’s AI infrastructure strategy, Pichai framed the moment as a once-in-a-generation opportunity — one that will depend not just on technology, but on collective will.

Anchoring that message in investment, Pichai announced that Google is establishing a full-stack AI hub in Visakhapatnam as part of a $15 billion infrastructure commitment in India. The facility will house gigawatt-scale compute and a new international subsea cable gateway, aimed at expanding access to cutting-edge AI capabilities across the country.

Recalling his student days travelling on the Coromandel Express past what was then a quiet coastal city, Pichai said he could never have imagined Visakhapatnam emerging as a global AI hub.

Beyond India, Google is expanding its global connectivity footprint, including new subsea fiber systems linking the US and India under its “America-India Connect” initiative.

Pichai argued that bold innovation must go hand-in-hand with responsibility. He cited breakthroughs from Google DeepMind, including AlphaFold, which solved the decades-old challenge of predicting protein structures and is now used by millions of researchers worldwide to accelerate drug discovery and combat diseases.

In India, Google has collaborated with the government to deliver AI-powered monsoon forecasts to millions of farmers, helping them better manage climate risk. Globally, the company is deploying AI in healthcare diagnostics and expanding open-source tools to support underserved languages.

Acknowledging that AI will reshape the workforce, Pichai said the technology will automate some roles while creating entirely new professions — much like the rise of YouTube creators over the past two decades.

Google has trained over 100 million people in digital skills and is launching a new AI Professional Certificate program to help workers integrate AI into their jobs.

Trust, he stressed, will be foundational. Tools such as SynthID are designed to help journalists and fact-checkers verify the authenticity of digital content in an era of AI-generated media.