Hard Fork·Season 1, Episode 195

Our Field Trip to Google I/O + A Sit-Down With Sundar Pichai + System Update

with Sundar Pichai + System Update

Our Field Trip to Google I/O + A Sit-Down With Sundar Pichai + System Update

0:000:00

Listen on:

About this episode

This week, we headed to Mountain View, Calif., for the annual developer event Google I/O. We share our reactions to Google’s biggest announcements, including a revamped search box, new agentic tools that compete with OpenClaw and an updated flash model of Gemini that the company says is faster than competitors. Then, we ask Sundar Pichai, the company’s chief executive, how he’s responding to growing evidence that the public is souring on A.I., what advice he’d give to college grads frightened by the current job market and where the company stands relative to competitors in the A.I. race. Finally, we run through the other big tech headlines of the week in our segment System Update. Guest: Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google. Additional Reading: Google Changes Its Search Box for the First Time in 25 Years How Google Is Starting to Win the A.I. Race Elon Musk Loses $150 Billion Suit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman Before Mass Layoffs, Meta Reassigns 7,000 Workers to Focus on A.I. Pope

Recent Episodes

Travis Kalanick Is Back | Building the Future of Industrial AI

a16z Podcast·Ep. 1151· 5533·

Travis Kalanick, Ben Horowitz, and Erik Torenberg reunite to reflect on Uber's early days, the investment that almost happened, and why Kalanick believes the next great technology opportunity lies beyond software. They discuss the lessons of building Uber, the value of founder-led companies, and why Kalanick spent nearly eight years quietly building Atoms before stepping back into the spotlight. The conversation explores industrial AI, robotics, autonomy, mining, food production, and Kalanick's vision for digitizing the physical world, where software, manufacturing, real estate, and transportation come together to transform entire industries. Resources: Follow Travis Kalanick on X: https://x.com/travisk Follow Ben Horowitz on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content

The Hidden Physical Side of AI: Steel, Wires, and Megawatts

Lexicon·Ep. 20· 1545·

In this episode, Diane Watkins, Vice President of New Initiatives & Outreach of the IEEE Power and Energy Society, joins us to unpack how AI-driven data centers are straining power grids, and what it will take to keep the lights on. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to IE+ for premium insights and exclusive content!

Why Physical AI Is the Next Frontier | Applied Intuition

a16z Podcast·Ep. 1150· 4833·

Applied Intuition has spent the past decade building the software that powers intelligent machines, from passenger vehicles and trucks to defense systems, mining equipment, and industrial robots. In this conversation, Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg sit down with Applied Intuition cofounders Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig to discuss the emergence of physical AI and the company's latest launch, Dana, a new platform designed to accelerate the development of autonomous systems. They explore autonomous vehicles, robotics, world models, simulation, AI infrastructure, and the engineering challenges of deploying intelligence safely in the physical world. Along the way, they discuss self-driving cars, humanoid robots, global competition, and why lowering the barrier to building physical AI could unlock an entirely new generation of products and companies. Resources: Follow Qasar Younis on X: https://x.com/qasar Follow Peter Ludwig on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig Follow Marc Andrees

Hugging Face's CEO on Open Source AI, Model Routing, and the Future of Competition

a16z Podcast·Ep. 1149· 1688·

As governments weigh new restrictions on frontier AI models, one question is becoming increasingly important: what role should open source play in the future of artificial intelligence? Theo Jaffee and Sofia Puccini speak with Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue about AI regulation, open source safety, model routing, and why he believes competition—not consolidation—is essential for the industry's future. They discuss GPT-5, government oversight of frontier models, Hugging Face surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue, local AI, China's open-source ecosystem, Europe's AI ambitions, and why routing workloads across specialized models could fundamentally reshape where value is created in AI. Resources: Follow Clément Delangue on X: https://x.com/ClementDelangue Follow Theo Jaffee on X: https://x.com/theojaffee Follow Sofia Puccini on X: https://x.com/schisofrenia Follow MTS on X: https://x.com/mtslive Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on Linked