India AI Impact Summit: No technology has made dreaming bigger than AI, says Sundar Pichai
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Artificial intelligence represents the biggest technological platform shift of the current era and has the potential to transform billions of lives, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said at the India AI Summit, urging governments, companies, and researchers to pursue the technology “boldly and responsibly.”
“No technology has made dreaming bigger than AI,” Pichai said, adding that the world stands “on the cusp of hyper-progress and new discoveries” that could help emerging economies leapfrog legacy challenges.
Highlighting India’s growing role in the global AI ecosystem, Pichai announced that Google is building a full-stack AI hub in Visakhapatnam as part of the company’s $15 billion infrastructure investment in India. The facility will feature gigawatt-scale computing capacity and a new international subsea cable gateway aimed at boosting connectivity, supporting businesses, and creating jobs.
AI breakthroughs and global impact
Pichai cited scientific research as one of AI’s most promising frontiers. He pointed to Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold system, developed under Demis Hassabis, which solved the decades-long challenge of predicting protein structures.
According to Pichai, the breakthrough compressed years of research into a public database now used by more than three million researchers across 190 countries for work ranging from malaria vaccine development to tackling antibiotic resistance.
He also highlighted AI’s role in public health and agriculture. In El Salvador, Google has partnered with authorities to enable affordable AI-powered diagnosis and treatment. In India, AI-driven weather forecasting tools, supported in part by Google’s NeuralGCM model, helped the government send monsoon forecasts to millions of farmers for the first time last summer.
Inclusion, infrastructure and jobs
Pichai stressed that ensuring equitable access to AI will require major investments in computing infrastructure, connectivity, and language inclusion. He noted Google’s ongoing subsea cable expansion — including four new systems linking India and the United States under the America-India Connect initiative.
On the workforce impact, he acknowledged AI will reshape employment by automating some tasks, evolving others, and creating new professions. Drawing a parallel, he said the idea of a professional YouTube creator did not exist two decades ago, but today millions make careers from the platform.
To support workforce transition, Pichai said Google has trained 100 million people in digital skills and is launching a new Google AI Professional Certificate to help workers integrate AI into their jobs.
Trust, regulation and collaboration
Calling trust “the bedrock of adoption,” Pichai highlighted tools such as SynthID, designed to help journalists and fact-checkers verify digital content authenticity.
He said that governments must act both as regulators and innovators — setting safeguards while adopting AI in public services. He cited examples from Uganda’s use of AI and satellite imagery for electrification planning to US cities deploying AI to detect road damage.
“We have the opportunity to improve lives at a once-in-a-generation scale,” Pichai said, urging stakeholders to work together to unlock AI’s full potential.