The Google Gemini chatbot’s “woke” AI image generation feature still hasn’t been fixed more than a month after the disastrous rollout, and some critics say it’s a sign that embattled CEOs, They claim this is the latest sign that Sundar Pichai should be forced out of his job.
The search giant disabled Gemini’s ability to create photos of humans in late February after it created strange, ahistorical photos, including of black Vikings and “diverse” Nazi-era German soldiers.
At the time, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said the feature would “soon come back online within the next two weeks.”
As of Sunday, Google’s AI image generator was still offline, and users said the company “expects this feature to return soon.” Asked about the timeline for full recovery, a Google spokesperson declined to comment.
It’s a rare and embarrassing exit for the Silicon Valley giant. In a potential sign of trouble for Pichai, Google’s reclusive co-founder Sergey Brin, in rare public remarks after the Gemini debacle, said the tech giant had “definitely failed” “It upset a lot of people,” he admitted.
Mr. Pichai, 51, slammed chatbot behavior in a memo to employees, calling it “totally unacceptable,” but he has enjoyed incredible freedom during his eight-and-a-half years as CEO. He has a close relationship with Brin and fellow co-founder Larry Page, and they retain voting control over all aspects of the business.
Nevertheless, one former senior Google employee told the Post that Pichai’s job “should be at incredible risk” given the mistakes that occurred under his watch. Told.
“Aside from Larry and Sergey managing the company like a family business, these are all classic signs of a badly run company,” said a former employee who left Google last year. “Unless Larry and Sergey have enough interest in making a change, Sander can survive as CEO forever.”
Despite widespread skepticism about Gemini’s quality, all eyes are on Pichai as Google reportedly seeks to integrate paid AI capabilities into its cash-rich search engine. It is. Further issues could derail negotiations with Apple to integrate Gemini into the iPhone, while its biggest rivals, including Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Meta, are moving full steam ahead with their own plans. .
The lukewarm evaluation of Google’s AI performance is reflected in the company’s stock price. The stock’s 8% rise in the first quarter lagged the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index.
Google declined to comment.
Pichai’s critics include influential Stratechery blogger Ben Thompson, who refuses to say who is to blame, Elon Musk or Hitler, in a Gemini chat. It argued that the bot’s “irrational” response showed Mr. Pichai was allowing rogue employees to disrupt company culture and threaten Google’s business.
Thompson said Google’s current turmoil is reminiscent of Microsoft’s slump in the final years of Steve Ballmer’s tenure as CEO, when the company clung to its struggling Windows platform. Microsoft then returned to growth only after a change in management where Satyanadera refocused his company as a service provider.
“The company’s purpose should not be to tell users what to think, but to help them make important decisions, as Page once promised.” Thompson wrote after the AI image disaster:. “It means, first and foremost, eliminating the company of employees attracted to Google’s power and potential to help carry out political agendas, and returning decision-making to the people who actually want to make good products. do.”
“That, in turn, must mean removing those who allowed the former to run amok, from CEO Sundar Pichai on down,” Thompson added.
More broadly, Google, which also failed to launch its first chatbot, Bard, at a widely derided demo event in Paris last year, wonders if it’s making a mistake in overseeing the highly paid Mr. Pichai. It gave critics new material once again. In the AI race, the company is already showing signs of falling behind Microsoft and OpenAI.
Critics say other signs of dissonance within Google’s vast empire include ongoing layoffs that have caused an internal morale crisis, evasive answers on the company’s earnings calls, and a lack of product innovation. It points out something.
Bernstein analyst Mark Schmulik said Google’s recent failures “only add to the question of whether we have the right management team to lead Google into its next era.”
Shmulik expanded on his points in an email to the Post, noting that Google’s more pessimistic investors are watching closely for signs of weakness as the company races to catch up in the AI race. did.
“If you believe we are in a war, a series of recent public missteps will not give you confidence that you can win this war,” Shmulik said.
On a recent episode of the popular technology podcast “All In,” co-host and former Google executive David Friedberg said that he is concerned that the company is lagging behind rivals in the AI space. He said many investors felt “deep frustration and anger.”
“Most investors I talked to weren’t mad about ‘woke’ DEI search engines.” friedberg said Early this month. “They are concerned about the fact that this blunder occurred and that Google may not be able to compete effectively in the AI space and that Google is not well-equipped to compete effectively from a consumer competitiveness perspective alone. I’m angry at the fact that they’re showing that they’re not.”
Pichai, a native of Chennai, India, first joined Google in 2004. He became Google’s CEO in 2015 after Mr. Brin and Mr. Page reorganized the company under the name Alphabet.
Under Pichai’s leadership, Google has experienced significant growth, with its stock soaring more than 300% since he took over. The company’s recent performance has been strong, with revenue and profit growth accelerating every quarter in 2023, and Google Cloud returned to profitability last year.
Still, detractors argue that the sheer size of Google’s strong empire, which includes searches for more than 90% of the online search market, helps shield Mr. Pichai and other members of the company’s executive team from criticism. are doing.
Despite claims of AI failures and spam degrading Google search quality, the company generated more than $300 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2023 alone.
“The reality is that Google escapes mediocrity in a low-profile way because it’s a monopoly and doesn’t face serious competition,” said one technology policy official, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter. “This is a rare moment when that mediocrity happens to explode in public.”
Other Google critics, such as Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, say the giant company is too bloated for any individual to effectively manage and should be broken up under antitrust laws. claims.
“The scope of the political challenges facing his company alone is enormous and would require more than 40 hours of work per week to oversee,” Hauer said. “I think it would be better if the people in charge of Gmail and search ads were not the people in charge of generative AI.”
