Google CEO Sundar Pichai at IIT-KGP: Talks startups, machine learning, Digital India and more

Pichai follows cricket still. Although he does not get much time, he still follows it. He has been impressed with Virat Kohli and his batting average over the last year

Do you still get calls from college friends?

Pichai: Yes I do. It is easier to stay in touch now. We follow each other on Facebook, WhatsApp just like every one else. We recently met in Bengaluru

In his free time Pichai likes to watch cricket and keep in touch with family and friends.

Pichai is too embarassed to admit his GPA in the first year, but good enough in the following three years. 

Idol during BTech days? I admired people from all walks of life. This week I met Narayana Murthy. I love cricket and watching Sachin Tendulkar play.

Favourite Bollywood actress: Deepika Padukone, I had interviewed her and Shah Rukh Khan at Google. I used to enjoy watching Prakash Padukone play badminton.

Pichai says he has seen ‘Koffee with Karan’ on and off on YouTube

Pichai regrets not having participated in a lot of cultural activities during his study years. It is important to be well rounded. Writing is an important skill for instance.

On future insecurity of getting a job: 

Pichai says that there have been many instances when he has felt that there were always better than him. It is a natural feeling. If you feel very comfortable in what you are doing, then you are not challenging yourself enough.

On his Google interview experience: I interviewed on April 1, 2004. The day when Gmail launched. It is also April fool’s day. So when i heard about Gmail, i didnt really pay much attention. So in the fourth interview when someone asked me if i had seen Gmail, i said no. In the fifth interview I answered how i felt about Gmail and what are the improvements that could be made. By the time i interviewed Larry had stopped interviewing, so I joke that I got in because Page stopped taking interviews

Speaking on a question about mathematics Pichai: Machine Learning is all pure mathematics. It is easier to train a mathematician with computer science than the other way round.

Pichai: I am not sure what I will be doing in 10 years. But I will be working on products that will be used by millions of users.

Pichai’s tips to students

Understanding things deeper. Be passionate

Setbacks don’t matter. Not getting into a college is not the end of the road

Keep your hopes up and follow your dreams

On being asked when India would reach at the levels of China in the digital world,  gave a general answer, saying that India has a lot of potential to be a leader in the global space, we are growing well as a country.

Pichai says that Google is quite bullish about Digital India. We are working on digitising payments. We will work to form more public-private partnership

Speaking on Digital India and Google partnership: Getting Google to work in multiple Indian languages is very important. Second is getting people to access smartphones – around $30 pricepoint. Third pillar is connectivity and we are doing good work with Indian railways with our free Wi-Fi  program. We are also trying to get rural woman online with Internet Saathi Program. So we are doing a lot with India.

Talking about Google Doodles, Pichai says I dont have a say in that but we have a system which decide whats relevant for a Google Doodle.

The Next Big thing in R7D at Google?

Pichai says Advances in machine learning will be the focus area. Pichai says Google alone wont do it, but he is excited to bring the advantages of Machine learning and AI to real life use cases

What is Sundar Pichai’s leadership style?

Pichai: We have over 60000 employees. So I rely on other leaders in my team. trust them to do the right thing and ensure that they are successful. You work is to remove roadblocks from what they do. I value team work. Setting up collaborative cultures is what I am working at. It is not about me but my team.

According to Pichai having a perspective in life is important and you should enjoy what you are doing.

On Education Pichai says: 

India’s strength is the tremendous respect for education. But Education needs to evolve. There is a lot of emphasis on rote learning, but it is important to be well rounded, try different things, take some risks. I would encourage people to follow their passions. There is a lot of pressure to follow set lanes. I think it is imporatnt to get real world experience. At Stanford, most students dont choose their majors till the last year. Academics is important but not as important as its made out to be in the Indian context.

Question: How do you compete with MNCs which have access to a large market and large investments?

Pichai: India has a huge potential. Digital market is still developing. As companies get built here, it is difficult to scale up and reach the full potential as there are still many people to get online. These same products can also work in Vietnam, Myanmar, and other countries. So we need to expand our vision. IN the next 5-10 years I forsee a lot of big software companies coming out of India.

Deep learning and AI techniques have been around for many years. But there wasnt much computational power to run these algorigthms. For instance Google Translate uses machine learning which has phenomenally improved the translation prowess says Pichai. According to him, Google will be investing a lot in Machine Learning going forward

Question: What is it that drives innovation at Google?

Pichai: We have a 10x or Moonshot experience at Google. We want to solve a real world problem. We try and use deep computer science. You have to aim high enough that there is no competition. Even if you fail, you always end up learning something in the process.

Question: Craziest thing you have done at IIT KGP

Pichai: I had my share of all the experiences which all of you go through. we did stay up late and miss classes the next day. Overall though we had a very good group of folks living in a campus like this.

Question 1: When did you realise that you had reached a checkpoint in your career chart

Pichai: I always wanted to build a product. I always wanted to work on a computing product which could reach multiple users and I was focussed on that.

Pichai is impressed with the rate at which things are progressing in India. He remembers how it was difficult to get a rotary phone, get a computer and other challenges.

Pichai reminiscing his adventurous attempts at addressing people in Hindi in his canteen. He thought “Abbey Saale” was a way to address someone:))

Pichai on his other side: Of course I bunked classes. It is a right of passage of going through college. I worked hard but we did have our share of fun as well.

Sundar Pichai running us through some of the photograph from his IIT Kharagpur days.

“Last time i left, i was making my way back to the train station. I havent been back since then. So it is extremely nostalgic,” reminisces Pichai about coming back to his alma-mater

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on stage amidst loud cheer and applause

Hitesh Oberoi, co-promoter and managing editor of InfoEdge. Naukri, 99Acres, JeevanSaathi and many other brands are owned by InfoEdge. Oberoi will be moderating the fireside chat with Sundar Pichai.

Partnered with 40 private and public institutions to ensure that over 2mn Indians get technically savvy. Anandan now reminiscing the year gone by and the initiatives Google India has taken. “When you build for India, you build for the world,” says Anandan.

Anandan talking about the potential in India. He claims that in the future no one would need to leave India to chase their careers. “If you are an enterpreneur, every challenge in India is an opportunity. You can name the sector in India and you have so many opportunities,” says Anandan.

IIT KGP students and faculty working with Google in the area of Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence.

Anandan lauds the efforts of IITians in creating Chrome OS and Android OS along with other Google open source projects. IIT KGP is one of the leading participants of Google’s ‘Summer of Code’ program.

Rajan Anandan, Google India and South East Asia head on stage. IIT Kharagpur Director is the best director in the world according to Pichai says Anandan. “Google and IITs have a long history. Many of our top performing engineers come from IITs. Our CEO Sundar Pichai is one of yours – KGP 1993” says Anandan

The event has started with a roaring welcome for Pichai. “What was it in KGP that he still carries? And what is it that he brings back to KGP?,” says IIT Kharagpur dean in his welcome address to Sundar Pichai

According to Google, Pichai is expected to talk about his stint at IIT Kharagpur, his time at Google and then take live questions from the gathered audience

According to our correspondent at the #BackOnCampus event, Pichai is running a bit late. So expect some delay before the event begins. The scheduled start time was 12PM.

The #BackOnCampus event is scheduled to begin shortly

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To give a boost to SMBs, Google has partnered with FICCI and announced Digital Unlocked. It is a training program to empower upcoming and existing Indian SMBs with essential digital skills that enable them to get online and start using the internet to grow their business.  The process is fairly simple and only requires one to register on the Digital Unlocked website. The program is being offered in three formats, online, offline and mobile.

Sundar Pichai is on a visit to India. He announced initiatives to help more small and medium businesses (SMB) get online with their businesses.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is expected to address the students at IIT Kharagpur soon. Stay tuned to our live blog for the latest updates