It's true. It is as much time as I want. Okay.
Very, very excited to be here. It's a beautiful theater. It is a beautiful, you know, I we're talking backstage. This was a famous theater for me because all of the Apple product launches that I loved were all here. Yeah. And Steve Jobs was here and I kind of feel like he left a little bit of his magic behind on the stage and it's just a great place to be.
Good karma. Absolutely. So anyway, Sundar, you know, we know each other very well and we have been to many many different kind of programs together and also a lot of personal events, some wonderful happy situations, some sad situations. We've had every possible situation together. And I think, you know, when I was thinking about this interview on the way in, what occurred to me was um you know, does everybody really know you? And I would really like just to take a few minutes and try to let people know who you are because as I was saying backstage, you're from my very favorite part of India, from the south. Um everybody knows I like a good masala dosa and makes two of us. So one thing I love about the south is you know the the the women are in charge of the household, the mothers are in charge and um and the gurus are the women um I met an incredible guru in Tvandram you know in Carerala in the backwaters of the Arabian Sea named Amichi was amazing had a huge impact on my life but that idea of growing up in South India and the the values of South India and the mystique and the energy and the matriarchy. How how tell us about that and then you know let's let's and then let's get you all the way from that point when you were there and I and Stanford but first let's go back to South India and then just give everyone a flavor for Sundar.
Wow. I didn't expect it to start there but uh definitely a trip down uh nostalgia. I mean, you're right. It's a special place obviously and you know my mom had a you know I learned my love of reading from my granddad, her father and my mother. Uh you know she used to be a voracious reader. Uh she you know she because of financial circumstances never went past high school but she was she used to read a lot and so that's where my love of learning and knowledge kind of uh you know came. I think growing up there you know obviously strong family values extraordinary focus on learning and knowledge and acquiring uh wisdom over the years and so it's not an accident I think it kind of led me to Google over time uh given what our mission is and so on but I you know I had to wait for every piece of technology for a long time in my life waited 5 years to get a rotary phone and when the phone came 5 years for a rotary phone because the government made it at that time and there's a long waiting.
Sure. But the but the minute the phone came to the house, uh we were one of the first in the neighborhood. People would come to the house, call their families. It kind of like created a community around it. So for me, it was, you know, incredible to see how getting access to technology can have this profound shift in your life. I had to wait for a long time to get access to a computer. So that's what led me to this journey. How old were you when you first had access to a computer?
You know, I'd seen and had like, you know, you could get an hour of use maybe like once every two to three months. But when I came to Stanford is when you could walk down to a lab and there were workstations and like I could open Emacs and I was, you know, it was a whole world.
That's where access was opportunity. Yeah, that's right. And that's what always reinforced to me that you know all of us are in this world of we trying to give people access to technology and and you see that step change that comes with it and and it's a journey and with AI I think we have a chance to do a step even more you mentioned south India I called the prime minister of India this on Sunday night you know I used to take this train prime minister Modi Prime Minister Modi I used to take this train through the south of India and there's this town called Weisag. It's a beautiful coastal town growing up and we announced our largest ever AI investment outside the US. a $15 billion 1 gawatt plus data center 80% powered by clean energy with subc cables going in that the the chance to transform a region like that with that with a kind of investment it really meant a lot to be able to call the prime minister who really cares about developing the country and this has been his vision I know you know him well too and so anyway it's extraordinary to see the impact of all this very exciting and it's a great way to give back so You really see that this kind of technology giving access even being developed and this nod to South India there.
Yeah. Very good. It sounded like there's a lot of folks here from India or no vice. So stand up if you're from India actually. Would you well be welcomed? Wow. Look at that. Thank you everybody. Welcome. So okay. Well, let's let's talk about that. So, here we are. I Well, I think I've started the conversation in the right way. Would you agree that we have to connect to India to understand you? And here you are. You're growing up in South India. You're getting um you're getting a vision for technology. The idea that access is opportunity. Um you're now in pursuit of IIT probably the fi one of the finest institutes uh in India for technology. you know when when did you make that decision that technology was going to be your passion?
Uh look I mean I I was uh uh very interested in physics. I was fascinated with semiconductors and computers and so to me it was literal you know I literally wanted to be this place was called Silicon Valley. So it's the best advertising ever, right? You know, as a kid growing up, you know, you're interested in semiconductors, this wonder that you could turn sand into into this thing uh which is the uh you know, substrate of uh uh the digital age. And so for me, I literally wanted to be in Silicon Valley because that's what I was interested in. And you know, I was very inspired by the one laptop per child project from MIT. Uh what Negra Ponti was working on. This is the one laptop per child where they're going to try to put this kind of uh lowcost computer in the hands of every child in the world that especially targeting India. Yeah. And it was going to be a very very lowcost computer was it was Nicholas was really the visionary behind it. That's right. And I you know I have to uh you know in some ways I I can directly link that to my work on Chromebooks many years later. Right. So the fact that that must have been now that I mean one laptop per child that was in the mid '9s I think that's right 94 95 96 I I don't remember the exact dates it's you were right and around the time it came to the US but what's extraordinary is his vision of making that possible uh I think made a lot of progress quite couldn't get there uh but you know for me it always uh you know it later played out not just in Chromebooks but we eventually ended up giving pretty much everyone a mobile phone which is a computer in their hands with Android too. Um, you know, now you have all around the world be in the US, be it in Brazil, be in Indonesia, be in India, Africa. Was there also a browser on that Android phone? That's right. What we say? There's a browser on that phone. There's a browser. We're going to get there. We're going to get there. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. You know, I'm going there. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. uh okay but but I think that inspired me and and so in some ways uh you know the chance and the thing that attracted me to Google was literally in the mission statement and I I'm very serious about it the phrase to make information universally accessible and useful that phrase is why I joined Google because it resonated so much with me right this is about giving access to information knowledge to everyone in the world and and and that journey continues across all of us. I think AI is the ultimate expression of that, right? It's really giving a true knowledge, collaborator, companion, however you want to think about it, to access to everyone in the world, regardless of where you're from. Uh and and and so it's a great equalizer, I think.
Well, it's an amazing vision now. And you're in pursuit of IIT with this inspiration. You go sail through IIT. It's amazing. And then somehow you know you want to go to Stanford. Was that when did that occur?
I mean you know you I mean it's a you know it's a fortunate opportunity and uh for me you know I had the chance to go to a few places. Stanford happened to be in Silicon Valley. So it was uh it was uh everything was uh straightforward. The only thing I felt maybe misled was the professor who emailed me said it's really nice and warm and beautiful weather. But I think kind of coming from South India when people say warm I remember the first time I went to the ocean I was so excited I went into the water and I was like no this is not warm this is not this is not the backwaters of the Arabian scene no okay it's a bit different having said that you know it is the birthplace of uh uh semiconductors and uh the stories around you know fair child and national I mean you you see the history back and uh so it's a real special place so I felt home when I came here.
Well, you're you're helping me remember all of my great times in South India too and the warmth and the energy and the mysticism and all that. I remember some a lot of times uh being there and uh spending time you know uh with uh Amachi and also um uh friend of mine there am Amita Rupa Nanda as well and it's just an incredible place and it is a it feels a long way from here but I guess it's it's actually much closer because here we are together right now and so now here you are you've kind of gone through that whole experience you're all the way to IT and now you're on your way to Stanford, what are your what is your family thinking at this point?
Uh, look, I um I mean I mean now you step back, you know, I I just became an empty neester this year and you you have this incredible access to your kids and it's still very very hard. I can't believe in those days uh when I came here it was probably $2.30 per minute to call back home. Yes. Right. and and uh so you know if you ever think the the curve of how technology makes things more accessible yeah it was you know used to write letters back then because it was so expensive to call now you know I'm fortunate enough you know I see my parents regularly and I'm uh you know stay in close touch with them but you know they talk about you know just just like you kind of disappear from their uh life but so I'm glad we we're working all you know I look at There's a product we are working on called uh Google beam and which really when you when two people talk you feel like physically they are in the same place. Part of the reason I'm motivated by all that is like you know you know you realize people today you know imagine veterans being deployed and being away from their families or something like that. So I think it's important to connect people.
All right. So here we are now we're at Stanford. The favorite son has left the home. There it's there's a distance. Yeah. Um you're lonely it sounds like in Stanford. Uh you're missing the misaladosa. You're you're in Palo Alto.
I was missing my girlfriend then. My wife now. Your girlfriend now your wife. Very nice. She was she went to uh college with me and so yeah all of that. Very good. I spent all my money calling her pretty much. Yeah. Literally true.
Very good. Do you want to say more about that? What were those calls like?
