How Sundar Pichai Pushed Google To the Front of the AI Race: 2026 TIME100 Most Influential Companies

Ah, Sundar Pichai, the man who declared Google an 'AI-first company' back in 2016 — a full *ten years* ago, in internet time. The TIME100 profile is a hagiography of that 'vision,' conveniently skipping over the fact that it took a decade of faffing about while OpenAI ate lunch. But hey, now they've got custom chips, Cloud, YouTube, and deep research — oh, and a cosy little deal with the Pentagon for classified work. Because nothing says 'Don't Be Evil' like sucking up to the military, which employees *immediately* criticised. Colour me shocked.

The piece gleefully chronicles how Pichai pushed Google to 'the front of the AI race' — a race that didn't exist in 2016, mind you, and one they were nearly left behind in. The Pentagon deal is portrayed as a strategic masterstroke, not the ethical banana skin it's about to become when some poor engineer realises their model is powering a drone strike. But sure, let's celebrate 'cultivating projects' like that's an achievement rather than the bare minimum of running a tech company.

So Google is now officially 'most influential' in AI. Terrific. That means they'll lead the charge on whatever regulatory sandbox our lords and masters cobble together, all while selling us YouTube ads for products we don't need. Pichai's 2016 declaration was either prescient or accidental — and from the look of the Pentagon deal, I'm betting on the latter. But don't worry, the chips and cloud will keep humming, right up until someone asks too many questions.