Tech behemoth Google, marking its 25th year, has come a long way since its inception as a humble search engine in the confines of Susan Wojcicki’s garage – a visionary who would later helm YouTube. Today, Google thrives in a tech landscape defined by generative AI, chatbots, and the ever-expanding realm of social media.
Founded on September 4, 1998, by American computer scientists Larry Page and Sergey Brin during their doctoral journey at Stanford University in California, Google’s trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable.
Now operating under the umbrella of the Alphabet parent group, with Indian-origin Sundar Pichai at the helm, Google has branched into various tech domains and introduced a plethora of groundbreaking products.
Google’s evolution transcends its original role as a search engine, encompassing a diverse array of dominant market players. Notable among these are Gmail, Google Maps, Google Cloud, Chrome, YouTube, Workspace, the Android operating system, cloud storage Drive, Google Translate, video chat app Meet, Pixel smartphones, Google Assistant, and the Bard AI, among others.
The company embarked on a transformative journey through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2004, further solidifying its global presence.
In a significant move, Google acquired Waze in a $966 million deal in June 2013, enriching its offering with social features and a crowdsourced location platform that seamlessly integrated with Google Maps.
The year 2015 witnessed Google’s reorganization as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet. Sundar Pichai assumed the mantle of Google’s CEO on October 24, 2015, succeeding Larry Page, who transitioned to become the CEO of Alphabet. This transition marked a pivotal moment in Google’s corporate history.
Notably, Google has now firmly embedded itself in the generative AI landscape with its Bard models, encompassing support for over 40 languages, including nine Indian languages. Bard’s reach extends to more than 230 countries and territories, including Brazil and various parts of Europe.
Google continues to innovate by introducing features aimed at enhancing user customization, fostering creativity, and improving productivity. These include the ability to incorporate images in Prompts, auditory playback of Bard’s responses, and seamless adjustment of Bard’s response length.
Additionally, Google recently unveiled plans to construct two additional data centers in the United States, further powering its arsenal of AI technologies.
As Google commemorates its 25th anniversary, it stands as an exemplar of technological evolution, firmly positioned as a driving force in the realm of generative AI and beyond.
