Getty Images
- Google's AI focus shifted after reorganizing under Alphabet in 2015, the creator of Gmail says.
- He said the shift prioritized search monopoly over AI innovation, impacting Google's edge.
- AI's disruptive nature conflicts with ad-driven search profitability, creating inherent tension.
Google should be dominating the AI arms race — right?
When Google's cofounders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, launched the company in 1998, they envisioned it as an AI company, Paul Buchheit, the creator of Gmail, said on a recent episode of the Y Combinator Startup podcast. Over the years, it gathered the building blocks to do so: volumes of data, high-level talent, and computational resources.