When Google cofounder Larry Page predicted in 2000: 'AI would be the ultimate version of Google'

Google ’s commitment to artificial intelligence (AI) dates back much further than many may realise. While CEO Sundar Pichai has repeatedly described Google as an “AI-first” company since 2016, the concept was first outlined by co-founder Larry Page in 2000. At the time, with Google still in its early stages, Page predicted that AI will eventually become the ultimate version of the search engine.

Page talked about Google being an AI company when the company was merely two years old.

"Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google," he said, adding, "It would understand, you know, exactly what you wanted. And it would give you the right thing."

"And that's obviously artificial intelligence, you know. It would be able to answer any question, basically, because almost everything is on the web, right?," Page explained (via Business Insider).

Google operated about 6000 computers in the year 2000
Page stated that Google operated approximately 6,000 computers to maintain around 100 copies of the web. Describing the scale of computation and data storage, Page remarked, "A lot of computation, a lot of data that didn't used to be available."

He further emphasised the challenge involved, noting, "From an engineering scientific standpoint, building things to make use of this is a really interesting intellectual exercise. So I expected to be doing that for a while."

Key announcements from Google I/O 2025
At this year's Google's annual I/O developer conference, the company showcased the company's intensified focus on AI, unveiling significant AI updates across its product ecosystem. Key announcements included smarter Gemini 2.5 models (Pro with "Deep Think" and an improved Flash), the launch of Google Beam (formerly Project Starline) for 3D video conferencing, and a new $250/month AI Ultra subscription for advanced features.

Google also revealed a complete AI overhaul for Search, introduced Android XR for smart glasses (Project Aura), and brought AI-powered Smart Replies to Gmail and real-time translation to Google Meet. Enhancements to the AI Agent (Project Mariner), the universal AI assistant (Project Astra), and more realistic AI video (Veo 3) and image (Imagen 4) generation models underscored Google's AI-first future.