Sundar Pichai says AI technology could be more profound than fire or electricity

• Sundar Pichai has discussed the capabilities of AI and its potentially huge effect on society.
• In a "60 Minutes" interview, Pichai said AI could be more profound than fire or electricity.
• However, Pichai said he was not immune to fears around the new technology.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet, says artificial intelligence could be the most profound technology in human history.

In an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes," which aired on Sunday, Pichai said he thought of AI "as the most profound technology humanity is working on. More profound than fire, electricity, or anything that we have done in the past."

"We are developing technology which, for sure, one day will be far more capable than anything we've ever seen before," he added.

Google recently released its AI chatbot, Bard, as part of an experimental trial. The company also plans to incorporate AI tech into Google Search, providing users with answers to search queries in addition to a list of relevant links.

The company announced the new AI products months after the launch of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT. The viral popularity of the bot sent shockwaves through the tech industry, igniting a race between some tech companies to bring new AI products to market and reportedly triggering Google to declare an internal "code red."

Microsoft, Google's old rival and a prominent investor in OpenAI, has already released an AI-powered version of its Google Search competitor, Bing.

Senior figures at Google have been keen to emphasize the company is taking a responsible approach to AI development, prompting frustrations from some employees about the slower pace. However, Google employees have reportedly flagged concerns about AI products being launched too quickly.

Pichai said he was not immune to fears about the new technology. He told CBS's Scott Pelley that the speed of AI development and concerns about deploying it in the wrong way kept him awake.

"We don't have all the answers there yet, and the technology is moving fast," Pichai said. "So does that keep me up at night? Absolutely."

Representatives for Google did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further comment, made outside normal working hours.