By Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google & Alphabet
The Global AI Impact is no longer a distant theoretical concept; it is the defining narrative of our generation. As I stood before world leaders at the opening ceremony of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, I was reminded of how quickly the “impossible” becomes our new reality.
Decades ago, I was a student riding the Coromandel Express from Chennai to IIT Kharagpur. As the train pulled into Visakhapatnam—Vizag—it was a quiet coastal town. Today, that same city is the site of Google’s new full-stack AI hub, a cornerstone of our $15 billion infrastructure investment. This hub, featuring gigawatt-scale compute and international subsea cable gateways, is designed specifically to maximize the Global AI Impact for billions of people across India and beyond.
No technology has me dreaming bigger than AI. It is a fundamental platform shift that allows us to pursue hyperprogress, helping emerging economies leapfrog legacy gaps. But this outcome isn’t automatic. To truly harness the Global AI Impact, we must be bold, responsible, and collaborative.
1. Acting Bold: Solving the “Unsolvable” in Science
Why must we be bold? Because the potential for Global AI Impact is highest when we tackle the hardest problems in science.
For fifty years, predicting protein structures was a “Grand Challenge” that stalled drug discovery. When Demis Hassabis and the Google DeepMind team developed AlphaFold, they didn’t just win a Nobel Prize; they opened a database that has become a gift to humanity. Today, over three million researchers in 190 countries are using it to develop malaria vaccines and fight antibiotic resistance.
This is the Global AI Impact in action: compressing decades of laboratory research into seconds of computation. Through Isomorphic Labs, we are now re-imagining the entire scientific method, treating disease markers and drug discovery as a computational frontier that can save lives faster than ever before.
2. Infrastructure as the Backbone of Progress
You cannot have widespread progress without the physical “pipes” to carry it. Our investment in Vizag is just one piece of the puzzle. We are also expanding our footprint in Thailand and Malaysia, and building the America-India Connect Initiative—a network of four new subsea fiber optic systems.
We are building this infrastructure because a “Digital Divide” must not become an “AI Divide.” The true Global AI Impact depends on equitable access to compute power. Whether it’s putting data centers into space or connecting remote villages to high-speed gateways, our goal is to ensure that cutting-edge AI isn’t a luxury for the few, but a utility for the many.
3. Empowering Emerging Economies
In regions that have historically lacked access to technology, the Global AI Impact is even more profound.
- In El Salvador: Our partnership with the government is bringing AI-powered diagnosis and treatment to thousands who previously couldn’t afford a doctor.
- In India: Our Neural GCM model allowed the government to send AI-powered monsoon forecasts to millions of farmers, protecting livelihoods against climate volatility.
- In Africa: In Ghana, we are open-sourcing AI tools for over twenty African languages, ensuring that language is no longer a barrier to the information age.
When we talk about the Global AI Impact, we are talking about giving a farmer in rural India or a patient in El Salvador the same technological advantages as a researcher in Mountain View.
4. The Responsibility Mandate: Trust and Training
While we dream big, we must also be grounded. A technology this powerful requires a deep sense of responsibility. As AI reshapes the workforce, we are committed to helping people evolve alongside it.
We’ve already trained 100 million people in digital skills, and our new Google AI Professional Certificate is designed to help workers globally master AI within their current roles. We recognize that AI will create entirely new careers—much like the “YouTube Creator” economy, which now supports 60 million people.
Furthermore, the Global AI Impact relies entirely on trust. Tools like SynthID, which helps verify the authenticity of digital content, are essential for journalists and citizens to navigate an AI-augmented world. We must build AI that is helpful for everyone, which means navigating economic shifts with empathy and transparency.
5. Working Together: The Power of Collective Will
No single company can realize the full scale of the Global AI Impact. It requires a partnership between tech companies, governments, and small businesses.
Governments have a dual role to play:
- As Regulators: Setting the “rules of the road” to address risks.
- As Innovators: Using AI to improve public services, like the Ugandan government using satellite imagery for electrification, or the city of Memphis using AI to fix road surfaces.
When tech companies build products that boost creativity and productivity, and governments create environments where innovation can thrive, the resulting Global AI Impact becomes a once-in-a-generation engine for human flourishing.
6. A Personal Perspective on the Future
I recently took my 83-year-old father for a ride in a Waymo—a fully autonomous car in San Francisco. Watching the world through his eyes, I saw how far we’ve come. (Though he did mention he’d be more impressed if the car could handle the “organized chaos” of Indian traffic—we’re working on it, Dad!)
That ride was a reminder that the Global AI Impact is ultimately about people. It’s about the student on the train dreaming of a better future, the scientist looking for a cure, and the farmer waiting for the rain.
We have the capability. We have the infrastructure. And looking at the leaders gathered today, I believe we have the will. Now, we must do the work, together, to ensure that the Global AI Impact is felt in every corner of the globe.
Thank you.