If there’s one lesson to be learned from Q1 earnings so far, it’s that Big Tech CEOs are all about AI. Need proof? Listen to what they have to say at the company’s earnings call.
Let’s start with Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). The search giant, who has long led the AI debate in the tech industry, faces a major threat from Microsoft (MSFT) and his OpenAI. To counter that story, Pichai spent most of Alphabet’s earnings call explaining the company’s AI roadmap and products.
The CEO mentioned AI 34 times in his opening remarks alone. It was the first topic he addressed, ahead of Alphabet’s cost-cutting efforts and rivals Microsoft and Amazon’s Google Cloud, which is trying to grow to catch up with his services.
“Our investments and breakthroughs in AI over the past decade have put us in a strong position,” Pichai said on a conference call. He then explained how AI is already being used or built into everything from Google’s advertising services to its productivity suite.
And of course, the CEO also mentioned how Google is working to bring generative AI to its all-important search business.
“We will be guided by data and years of experience about what people want and our high standards of quality,” he said. We know you trust us to give you the right information, so we will continue to test and iterate.
Alphabet found itself in an unfamiliar position. The company has long dominated AI research thanks to its world-class team. Google is responsible for some of the research behind the Transformers tech that powers OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
However, Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI has led Microsoft to seek ways to address the challenges of Windows makers. As part of that, Alphabet himself praises the merits of his AI capabilities and know-how.
Nadella does rap
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also made AI a key part of her earnings call, not to be outdone by Pichai. Nadella used the term AI 31 times in his opening remarks and mentioned AI in various business segments at Microsoft, including cloud, productivity and search.
“We are focused on continuing to raise the bar for operational excellence and performance by innovating to help our customers maximize the value of their existing technology investments and thrive in the new era of AI,” said Nadella.
Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI puts Microsoft in a leading position in the AI wars, at least from a publicity and investor perspective. From the Edge browser and Bing chatbots to Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365, the company is rolling out generative AI capabilities across the board.
And Nadella’s biggest emphasis on the company’s AI future comes when he mentions how AI will impact Microsoft’s attempt to challenge Google search with its own Bing search engine.
“We look forward to continuing this journey in the generational shift of the largest software category, search,” said Nadella.
A meta that puts AI first
The conversation at Meta (META)’s earnings call was a little different. CEO Mark Zuckerberg led discussions about the social media giant’s recent job cuts before jumping on AI.
He mentioned AI 22 times on the conference call, saying it could improve the company’s ad monetization, power the service’s recommendation engine, and lead to AI chatbots in Messenger and WhatsApp. . Zuckerberg also elaborated on how the company is investing in the infrastructure needed to bring his AI ambitions to life.
Not surprisingly, the CEO has tied the company’s AI efforts to long-term plans for the Metaverse. Zuckerberg insisted he wasn’t going to ditch the metaverse in favor of AI, instead he said the two technologies would benefit each other.
Meta, like Alphabet and Microsoft, has a strong AI department and has been working in this field for years. But the excitement generated by OpenAI and ChatGPT has forced the company to respond by putting his AI at the center of its investor statement.
There are still many companies such as Apple and Nvidia preparing to report quarterly results. But so far, it seems like AI should at least be mentioned or left out if you’re in the tech industry.
To Daniel Howley, technical editor at Yahoo Finance.keep up with him @Daniel Howley
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