Pichai, whom Google called as a star witness, opened his testimony at the US District Court for the District of Columbia by recounting his journey from Chennai, India to Google and his path to becoming the tech company’s CEO in 2015.
Pichai’s testimony represents Google’s attempt to rebut claims by rivals including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who testified last month that Google has thwarted competition in search and risks dominating the artificial intelligence sector by training its large language models on search query data that it controls.
Asked that question point-blank by Google’s own lawyers, Pichai did not shy away from acknowledging a connection between a search engine’s default status and increased scale. That year, Google sent Microsoft a lengthy letter outlining concerns about possible competition issues raised by Microsoft’s practice, according to an exhibit introduced in court.
That specific request came as Pichai noted several employee departures and the recruitment efforts of John Giannandrea, a former Google search exec who went to oversee search efforts at Apple . Apple has testified that it has always viewed Google as the best search engine for its users, even as it considered alternatives such as partnering with Microsoft on search or even buying Bing outright.
Google essentially told Apple at the meeting that any discrepancy was likely due to Apple’s own failings in search and not the fault of Google.