Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently shared his favourite Indian foods and his thoughts on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India. In a podcast with YouTuber Varun Mayya, Pichai talked about AI’s impact on the Indian job market and gave advice to the country’s engineers.
Pichai revealed his favourite dishes from different Indian cities: dosa in Bangalore, chole bhature in Delhi, and pav bhaji in Mumbai. “When it’s Bangalore, I will probably get a dosa. It’s my favourite food. If it’s Delhi, chole bhature. And if it’s Mumbai, I’ll do a pav bhaji,” he said.
Discussing AI, Pichai emphasised India’s role in the global AI scene. He believes India has the potential to lead in AI innovation due to its strong engineering talent. “I think India is well-positioned. For India, this is the moment. India is an extraordinary base of developers, engineering talent. For them to understand this trend and build their applications that make sense either for India or for the world from India. Both are exciting possibilities,” he said.
Mayya mentioned the tough competition for young Indians aiming to join top tech firms like Google. Pichai stressed the need for a deep understanding of technology, rather than just surface knowledge. He referenced a scene from the Bollywood movie ‘3 Idiots’ to make his point.
“Real success comes from understanding things in a deeper way. Almost tempted to go back to the movie 3 Idiots. There’s a scene in there where they ask Aamir Khan the definition of a motor. There are two versions of where you describe what a motor is and there’s a version where you actually understand what a motor is. So I view it the same way,” Pichai said.
Pichai also mentioned that there is an entire industry in India dedicated to helping young people prepare for FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) interviews. “I don’t know if you know this, but there is an entire industry in India built to help young Indians crack the FAANG interviews,” he noted.
