Alphabet’s Pichai rejects criticism of company’s AI leadership, NYT reports

At the DealBook Summit, Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he would love to do a side-by-side comparison of Google and Microsoft’s (MSFT) AI models, and rejected the idea that rivals were set to eat into the company’s dominance in search, despite antitrust fights that could force it to break up, The New York Times’ Nico Grant reports. Pichai also expressed optimism about President-elect Donald Trump, who has publicly expressed skepticism about the possibility of a Google corporate split, though Pichai said he had not discussed the litigation with the president-elect since the election. The two men had spoken about energy and the need to innovate to build things, and Pichai expressed optimism about Trump’s plans, Pichai said. “There are areas where he’s thinking about, and committed to, making a difference, so hopefully we can make progress there,” Pichai said, adding that Trump is focused on the need for American competitiveness on AI.