Big Tech muscles in: the 12 months that changed Silicon Valley forever

It was a Friday afternoon before Christmas last year when Kent Walker, Google’s top lawyer, called four of his employees into a meeting at their office, SL1001. They had been preparing for a meeting on the safety of Google’s products, but Walker informed them that the agenda had changed. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, had decided to focus on artificial intelligence (AI) products, specifically inspired by the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This shift in agenda marked a significant change for the company, as they were now racing against other tech giants to develop and release AI-powered products. Despite concerns about safety and potential risks, the priority became turning AI into profitable business ventures. At Meta (formerly Facebook), Mark Zuckerberg reorganized parts of the company around AI, while Elon Musk vowed to create his own AI company called X.AI. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, also accelerated plans to incorporate AI into their products. OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT, never expected it to have such a profound impact on Silicon Valley. Initially, they had planned to release a more powerful version of their technology, but due to concerns and competition, they decided to release a less powerful version as a research preview. This decision set off a chain reaction, with other tech companies following suit and prioritizing the development of AI products.