In a significant move, Google has appointed Prabhakar Raghavan, currently the senior vice president overseeing Google Search, Assistant, Geo, Ads, Commerce, and Payments, as the new Chief Technologist. CEO Sundar Pichai announced this change on October 17, highlighting the ongoing competition Google faces from rivals such as Microsoft and OpenAI, as well as emerging startups like Perplexity.
This reshuffling comes as Google’s core search business adapts to evolving consumer behaviors. In a note to employees, Pichai remarked, “Prabhakar has decided it’s time to make a big leap in his own career. After 12 years leading teams across Google, he’ll return to his computer science roots as Chief Technologist.”
Nick Fox, a long-time Google veteran and member of Raghavan’s leadership team, will take over Raghavan’s previous responsibilities.
The restructuring is part of a broader effort to enhance Google’s Knowledge and Information (K&I) team, with Pichai stating that this integration will improve feedback loops and expedite the deployment of new models in the Gemini app.
Who is Prabhakar Raghavan?
Prabhakar Raghavan, 64, joined Google in 2012 after a tenure at Yahoo, where he worked on search, ad ranking, and ad marketplace design. He previously held the role of Vice President for Google Apps and Google Cloud, where he managed engineering, product development, and user experience, including leading the Gmail team and launching early AI features like Smart Reply and Smart Compose. Under his leadership, Gmail and Drive grew to over a billion users.
In 2018, Raghavan became the senior vice president of Google Search, Assistant, Geo, Ads, Commerce, and Payments, succeeding Sridhar Ramaswamy. He has overseen the launch of innovative features such as AI Overviews, Circle to Search, video understanding, and “shop what you see” in Lens. Raghavan has also addressed criticisms regarding inaccuracies in Gemini’s historical depictions, publicly apologizing and outlining steps Google is taking to address these issues.
