Sunder Pichai, Google CEO, admits “elements of irrationality” in the AI investment surge and warns no company is immune if bubble bursts. Full BBC interview highlights inside.
TheInterviewTimes.com | November 18, 2025: In a candid BBC interview, Sunder Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Google and Alphabet, has openly acknowledged that the ongoing artificial intelligence boom contains clear “elements of irrationality” while drawing direct parallels with the infamous dot-com bubble of the late 1990s.
What Sundar Pichai Exactly Said About the AI Bubble
Speaking exclusively to BBC News, Sunder Pichai described the current pace of AI spending as an “extraordinary moment” but cautioned that history shows tech industries often overshoot during periods of extreme excitement.
“There is a cycle to these things,” Pichai told the BBC. “So I think it’s both rational and there are elements of irrationality through a moment like this.”
When pressed on whether an AI bubble burst could damage even giants like Google, Sunder Pichai was blunt: “No company is going to be immune, including us.”
Must Read: AI Bubble Risks Grow as Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet Spend Billions
Why Sunder Pichai Sees Dot-Com Bubble Similarities
Pichai pointed out that during the late-1990s internet frenzy, massive over-investment eventually led to a painful crash — yet the core technology (the internet) emerged stronger and transformed the world. He believes AI will follow the same pattern but with even greater long-term impact.
“The internet went through that cycle and came out stronger,” Pichai explained. “I think AI will be profoundly more impactful than even the internet.”
Massive AI Spending Triggering Concerns, Says Pichai
Alphabet, under Sunder Pichai’s leadership, has committed over $75 billion in capital expenditure for 2025 alone — mostly tied to AI infrastructure. Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and numerous AI startups are following similar aggressive spending paths, leading Sunder Pichai to question the sustainability of the current trajectory.
Pichai on AI’s Environmental Cost
During the interview, Sunder Pichai also admitted that the explosion of energy-hungry data centers has forced Google to miss some interim climate targets. However, he reaffirmed the company’s goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2030 and revealed plans to train future AI models in the UK to leverage its growing renewable and nuclear energy capacity.
Why Sundar Pichai Compares AI Boom to the Dot-Com Bubble
Sundar Pichai’s comparison to the dot-com bubble is striking. In the late 1990s, the internet was undeniably revolutionary, yet investors poured billions into any company with “.com” in its name, often ignoring revenue or profits.
Valuations soared, companies burned cash, and fibre-optic networks were massively overbuilt. When the bubble burst in 2000–2002, the Nasdaq crashed nearly 80%, thousands of firms collapsed, and trillions in wealth vanished.
Today, Sundar Pichai sees similar patterns: hundreds of billions flowing into AI chips, data centres, and startups with sky-high valuations but limited current revenue; a “get big fast” mentality; and infrastructure build-out amid electricity and chip shortages.
Like the internet era, AI is transformative and here to stay. Yet the current frenzy contains “elements of irrationality.” History shows genuine breakthroughs trigger speculative excess, and when expectations outrun reality, a painful correction follows.
Only survivors like Amazon and Google emerged stronger from the dot-com wreckage. Sundar Pichai believes AI’s long-term impact will dwarf the internet — but only the disciplined will live to see it.
Final Takeaway
While remaining deeply optimistic about artificial intelligence, Pichai used the BBC platform to send a clear message to investors, startups, and Big Tech rivals: the current AI gold rush contains irrational elements, and history suggests a correction is possible before the technology fully matures.
As Sunder Pichai concluded, society will eventually view this era as the foundational period of AI — but only the companies that navigate the coming years wisely will survive to tell the story.
Source: Exclusive BBC News interview with Sundar Pichai, November 18, 2025