Google's CEO answers questions generated by Perplexity

In a landmark event at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, took center stage to deliver the prestigious Presidential Lecture. The session, moderated by CMU President Farnam Jahanian, took an innovative twist when AI-generated questions entered the conversation.

During the Q&A segment, Jahanian used Perplexity AI and Gemini, both advanced AI models, to generate questions for Pichai.

The standout moment came when Jahanian, referring to a question from Perplexity, asked Pichai to reflect on failure in the tech industry and his approach to encouraging risk-taking among his team.

The question, "What are your views on failure in the tech industry? How do you encourage your team to take risks, and what lessons have you learned from setbacks in your career?" prompted a thoughtful response from Pichai, who emphasized the importance of failure in driving innovation.

"In tech, failures are an important part of your journey. When you want to work on really ambitious things, first of all, no one else is working on it, so you tend to have less competition. It attracts the best people in the world... even if you fail in accomplishing what you set out to do, whatever you created in the process will still be incredibly valuable," said Pichai, underscoring the significance of risk-taking as a driver for groundbreaking developments.

Pichai's response, delivered with humility and humor, resonated with the audience, making the moment both enlightening and relatable. The use of AI-generated questions, particularly from Perplexity, also sparked intrigue among attendees, highlighting how rapidly AI tools are being integrated into high-profile tech discussions.