Sundar Pichai takes subtle dig at Satya Nadella over ‘making Google dance’ remark

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has taken a light-hearted jab at Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, referencing the now-famous remark in which Nadella said he wanted to “make Google dance.” The comment came during Pichai’s appearance on the All-In podcast, where he discussed the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) and competition from major tech rivals.

During the episode, host David Friedberg posed a question about Google’s position in the AI race against companies led by active and high-profile leaders — including Sam Altman (OpenAI), Elon Musk (xAI), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), and Satya Nadella (Microsoft).

In response, Pichai praised the competitive landscape, saying, “Obviously, by definition, it's a very impressive group. I think you're talking about some of the best companies, some of the best entrepreneurs. It shows how much progress we are going to see, because you’re basically talking about many people who are working hard to drive that progress.”

Then, in a sly nod to Nadella’s earlier comments, Pichai added, “Look, each of them, they're different people. I am fortunate to know all of them. I think maybe only one of them has invited me to a dance, not the others.”

The Origin of the ‘Dance’ Remark Back in 2023, as Microsoft integrated OpenAI’s language models into its Bing search engine, Nadella had made headlines by saying that he hoped Microsoft’s innovations would compel Google — long the dominant force in search — to “come out and show that they can dance.”

“I hope that, with our innovation, they will definitely want to come out and show that they can dance,” Nadella told The Verge. “And I want people to know that we made them dance.”

At the time, Microsoft’s move was seen as a bold challenge to Google’s dominance in search, leveraging OpenAI’s advancements in generative AI. However, since then, Google has reasserted its leadership in the AI race with its Gemini 2.5 Pro language model, which has consistently outperformed rivals across several benchmarks.

While Microsoft has been a key backer of OpenAI and continues to rely heavily on its models to power products across Bing, Edge, and Copilot, Google has been developing its own suite of AI models in-house. Pichai’s recent comments subtly highlight that distinction — and perhaps serve as a reminder that Google isn’t merely reacting but driving AI innovation on its own terms.

Industry chatter also suggests that Microsoft is currently in negotiations with OpenAI to secure continued access to its models beyond 2030, indicating a strategic dependency that Google has managed to avoid.

In the high-stakes race for AI supremacy, the dance continues — and the music, it seems, is far from over.

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