This week, we headed to Mountain View, Calif., for the annual developer event Google I/O. We share our reactions to Google’s biggest announcements, including a revamped search box, new agentic tools that compete with OpenClaw and an updated flash model of Gemini that the company says is faster than competitors. Then, we ask Sundar Pichai, the company’s chief executive, how he’s responding to growing evidence that the public is souring on A.I., what advice he’d give to college grads frightened by the current job market and where the company stands relative to competitors in the A.I. race. Finally, we run through the other big tech headlines of the week in our segment System Update.
Guest:
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://blog.google/authors/sundar-pichai/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sundar Pichai,</a> chief executive of Google.</li>
</ul>
Additional Reading:
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/business/google-seach-bar-ai-gemini.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Changes Its Search Box for the First Time in 25 Years</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/technology/personaltech/google-gemini-ai.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">How Google Is Starting to Win the A.I. Race</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/technology/elon-musk-lawsuit-openai-sam-altman.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Elon Musk Loses $150 Billion Suit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/technology/meta-reassigns-7000-employees-ai.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Before Mass Layoffs, Meta Reassigns 7,000 Workers to Focus on A.I.</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-18/anthropic-s-co-founder-to-launch-encyclical-on-ai-with-pope-leo" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pope to Launch Encyclical on AI Alongside Anthropic Co-Founder</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/books/ai-fiction-contest-granta.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Was a Story That Just Won a Literary Prize A.I.-Generated?</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/business/media/future-of-truth-ai-quotes.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Book on Truth in the Age of A.I. Contains Quotes Made Up by A.I.</a></li>
</ul>

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