Sundar Pichai’s Master Plan: How He Shaped Google’s Future Without Improvisation

In 2015, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped back from day-to-day operations and handed him the reins, many saw Pichai merely as “the Chrome guy,” a quiet, analytical engineer who had risen through the ranks unnoticed. A decade later, he’s not just the face of Google but the architect of one of the most ambitious technological transitions of our time, with AI at its core.

“We have been preparing for this moment for a long time,” Pichai states to dozens of media outlets clamoring to pose questions to him and his executives, including Elizabeth Reid, Vice President of Search, and Koray Kavulcuoglou, CTO of Google DeepMind. These divisions are crucial in the development of products like Gemini, the AI developed by the company.

Pichai has reasons to claim readiness. From acquiring DeepMind in 2014, launching TensorFlow, to the recent rollout of Gemini 2.5, Google has been methodical. What seemed like science fiction a decade ago is now a reality.

Among the innovations Pichai introduced at Google I/O is an AI that summarizes emails, answers questions, suggests code, and interprets images, grounded in the company’s various divisions from Android to daily user searches.

Seeing Sundar Pichai in person is not just about hearing him discuss generative AI or cloud growth; it’s to see him joke during formalities, attentively listen, and smile even when faced with challenging questions.

“Are we making the human brain lazier?” a reporter throws at him. Sundar laughs, takes a breath, and responds with unexpected naturalness: “In fact, I’m already forgetting part of your question.”

The room lightens up with laughter, but the underlying message remains. Google is advancing strongly yet steadily. Its revenue grew 12% according to the latest quarterly report. Google Cloud soared by 28%. Vertex AI saw a twentyfold increase in usage, and over 1.5 billion people interact with AI-enhanced search results, a platform managed entirely by Google Cloud for developing and deploying machine learning models and generative AI applications.

Under his leadership, Google has positioned artificial intelligence as a cornerstone of its innovation, not just a passing trend. He also emphasizes the need to progress responsibly amidst scrutiny.

“The opportunity is greater than any single company, and it requires us all to work together responsibly,” he noted, calling for collaboration among governments, businesses, and civil society to establish ethical and safety standards.

His response comes in a context where Google insists its products are free and users can easily switch to alternative services, yet regulators and analysts question the company’s monopoly.

During a 2023 trial, Pichai defended that the company’s success is based on product quality, not coercion. He also argued that agreements with manufacturers and browsers are legitimate and commonplace in the industry.

One of the most sensitive points of the trial was the multi-year agreement between Google and Apple, where the former pays billions annually to remain the default search engine on Safari. The Department of Justice argues this deal stifles competition and artificially reinforces Google’s dominance in mobile searches.

At the press conference, Pichai avoids any triumphalism. “The opportunity is greater than any single company,” he reiterates, “and it requires us all to work together responsibly.”

Ten years later, the smile remains, as does the soft accent and measured logic. But now, he is surrounded by a landscape of strategic decisions, global pressures, fierce competition, and a declared commitment to the ethical development of technology.

The ongoing antitrust case before the US Chamber of Commerce is considered the most significant since Microsoft’s in the 90s. An adverse ruling could reshape commercial agreements in technology, open space for competitors in search, and weaken the revenue model based on data and personalized advertising. Pichai’s closeness with the current Trump administration is not without political deference, as achievements sometimes carry a political burden.

Yet, it’s this calm engineer who avoids the throngs of photographers swarming after his conference, preferring to exit the room when caught between multiple journalists. His world, both real and digital, is distinct.