Opens a new tab CEO Sundar Pichai said no company would be left unscathed if the artificial intelligence boom collapses, as rising valuations and heavy investment in the sector fuel concerns of a bubble.
Pichai said in an interview with the BBC published on Tuesday that the current wave of AI investment was an “extraordinary moment” but recognized “elements of irrationality” in the market, echoing warnings of “irrational exuberance” during the dot-com era.
There has also been a lot of debate among analysts about whether AI valuations are sustainable.
Asked how Google would deal with the potential bursting of a bubble, Pichai said he thought it could weather the storm, but added: “I don’t think any company will be immune, including us.”
Alphabet shares are up about 46% this year as investors bet on its ability to compete with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
In the United States, concerns about high AI valuations are starting to weigh on broader markets, while British policymakers are also flagging the risk of bubbles.
In September, Alphabet pledged £5 billion over two years for the UK’s AI infrastructure and research, including a new data center and investment in DeepMind, the London-based AI lab.
Pichai told it too BBC in the interview at Google’s headquarters in California that Google would start training models in Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes it will boost the country’s ambition to be the world’s third AI superpower, after the United States and China.
Pichai also warned of AI’s “immense” energy needs and said Alphabet’s net-zero targets would be delayed as computing power scaled up.
