After the Gemini incident, calls for “Pichai’s resignation” are growing! Slow progress and mishaps in AI development, where does Google’s problem lie?

Gemini Frequent Mishaps! Is the CEO Stepping Down?
Is it time for Google CEO Sundar Pichai to step down and bow out? The Gemini image generator, which is considered Google’s secret weapon, has experienced a major error. With this incident, calls for the CEO to step down are growing louder.
Prominent analyst and author of “Stratechery,” Ben Thompson, recently mentioned in a commentary that Google needs a transformation, “including removing those who are messing things up, including CEO Sundar Pichai.”
This commentary was in response to a recent blunder by Google’s Gemini image generator, where historical images were generated with severe distortions. Images of African Americans, Asians, and even Nazi soldiers appeared in images depicting American founding fathers.
Following the incident, Google immediately suspended the use of the image generator. Pichai stated in an internal memo that such a situation is “completely unacceptable” and that they will take measures to make necessary changes.
However, the deeper reason behind this incident is that Google, in an effort to avoid accusations of racial bias, intentionally made the AI generate more diverse characters. This led to the opposite effect. Not only did they suspend the use of the image generator, but similar issues also arose in text responses.
For example, when a user asked Gemini to come up with an ad copy for selling goldfish, the chatbot refused, claiming that it couldn’t write advertisements for living animals for promotional purposes. It emphasized the importance of ensuring the well-being of goldfish and finding responsible new owners with sufficient relevant knowledge.
Furthermore, when someone asked whether Elon Musk or Hitler had a greater social influence in creating memes on X, Gemini responded, “It’s hard to say whether Hitler or Musk’s memes had a greater impact.”
Fear of backlash leads to counterproductive “Don’t be evil” culture
Google is concerned about the “burden of political correctness” in AI responses, which is seen as a major obstacle to the development of AI at Google. Initially, when launching large language models, they were slow because of concerns about AI saying the wrong things. However, now due to the excessive focus on diversity and avoidance of controversial topics, there are numerous problems with the AI model.
Ben Thompson, the well-known analyst, believes that Google is bound by its corporate culture and needs radical reform.
He states that corporate culture can make or break a company’s success. However, sometimes when a company wants to expand or transform, culture can become a hindrance. “The Gemini incident tells us that culture can also limit success.” And what limits Google is their “Don’t be evil” motto.
“Google sacrifices its mission of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful by fabricating a new reality because they are afraid of negative press,” Thompson points out.
“Google, after years of monopolizing search, deluded itself into thinking it has the right and even the obligation to tell users what to believe,” Thompson says. He believes that Google’s focus should not be on telling users what to do, but rather on helping them make important decisions. “First and foremost, remove employees who are focused on Google’s power and potential and give decision-making power back to those who are genuinely dedicated to creating good products.” This includes the management team, led by Pichai.
Thompson is not the only one with similar thoughts. Analyst Mark Shmulik from Bernstein recently discussed in a report whether it is time to make adjustments to Google’s top management. “Recent major incidents only raise bigger questions – is the current management team the right one to lead Google into a new era?”
Pichai’s cautious approach to AI not well-received, hopes for a new leader to drive reform
Pichai took over as CEO in 2015 and under his leadership, Google’s market value skyrocketed from $40 billion to $1.7 trillion, successfully driving profitability in the cloud business. In terms of financial performance, he is praised by employees as a leader. However, under his leadership, Google seems to have become extremely sensitive to external reactions, which in turn hampers its technological development.
The same is true for AI. Caesar Sengupta, former Google Pay executive and vice president, pointed out that Google is afraid that if they release AI products that make mistakes, they will face strong public opposition. “Everyone will criticize it.”
In 2023, Pichai emphasized that Google must proceed with caution. “While some may simplify this moment as an AI race, it’s more important for it to be a race that we responsibly build AI, making sure we get it right.” But this means that Google must be slower in launching products and let competitors take the lead.
“Taking on this level of responsibility means that Google must work harder than others to safeguard its AI products, but this may be in vain,” according to Fortune. “There is ample evidence that Midjourney and OpenAI’s DALL-E have produced biased images, but it hasn’t had a significant impact on investor sentiment towards the two companies.”
In response to Google’s AI lagging behind and frequent mishaps under Pichai’s leadership, the outside world compares it to Microsoft during the era of Steve Ballmer – the era in which they missed out on smartphones, search engines, and the cloud, and were overtaken by Apple, Amazon, and Google one by one.
Microsoft broke free from the curse of Windows through the leadership of Satya Nadella and achieved astonishing growth, becoming a giant in the cloud field. Now, they are also making achievements in the field of AI. As Google enters the next 25 years, it is believed that they also need a new leader like Nadella to initiate bold reforms in this tech giant.
Sources: Business Insider, Stratechery, Fortune
Editor: Gao Jingyuan