Sundar Pichai rejects Sam Altman criticism over Google AI strategy

Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai has defended Google's artificial intelligence development strategy, pushing back against claims from OpenAI chief Sam Altman that Google simply attaches AI capabilities onto legacy software.

Speaking on the competition across the tech industry, Pichai acknowledged that OpenAI has pushed Google to move faster, but insisted that building standalone AI tools and refining established platforms are both essential steps.

The exchange follows remarks by Altman asserting that OpenAI creates native AI applications from scratch, whereas Google merely fits machine learning features around its existing product suite.

Pichai pointed to the standalone Gemini app as clear evidence that Google designs ground-up AI tools, before turning Altman's design argument back on OpenAI's own software.

"We are constantly building new products as well. Gemini was built from the ground up as a product—the Gemini app I'm talking about," Pichai said. He questioned how OpenAI intends to handle the shift toward autonomous software agents.

"Or tomorrow, as all of us are adapting to agents, are you bolting agents onto ChatGPT, or are they building it natively? How would you think about that? You can always flip these questions back," Pichai added.

How Google and OpenAI approaches compare

Pichai argued that building world-class user tools requires deploying both strategies at once rather than debating industry labels. Success in generative AI, he stated, depends on delivering products that perform reliably in daily use, whether created anew or adapted from existing software platforms.