Google CEO Pichai calls for government action on cybersecurity and innovation

• Google’s Pichai calls for government action to police cyberattacks more actively and encourage innovation

• Sundar Pichai said its the time to draft international legal standards for technology, an equivalent of a Geneva Convention

Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc’s Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said that the U.S. government should police cybersecurity breaches more actively and encourage innovation with policies and investments in the wake of a series of cyberattacks on U.S. companies which the Biden administration attributed to Chinese and Russian hackers.

“Governments on a multilateral basis…need to put it up higher on the agenda,” Pichai said in The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live conference. “If not, you’re going to see more of it because countries would resort to those things.”

Pichai said that the time had come to draft international legal standards for technology, an equivalent of a Geneva Convention.

The CEO of the tech giant also appealed to the U.S. government to take an active role in encouraging innovation and compete against China, where the Communist Party has already outlined a plan to advance the country’s artificial-intelligence capabilities and develop its semiconductor sector.

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Google’s plan to compete China

Google, which doesn’t operate in China, is investing in quantum computing and artificial intelligence to stay ahead of Chinese internet companies to provide services in markets around the world, including Southeast Asia, Pichai said.

“We can take a long-term view and do [that], particularly at a time when governments have slightly pulled back on basic [research and development] funding,” Pichai said, adding that government could support Google’s efforts.

He asked the Biden administration to stay ahead by adopting policies such as providing work visas to talented engineers and scientists from overseas.

The Biden administration has already pressed Congress to address that issue by funding bipartisan legislation known as the Chips for America Act, designed to encourage domestic semiconductor investment.

If the legislation is passed, it can provide incentives and give more control to the U.S. over the semiconductor supply chain, which is dependent mainly on Taiwan-based factories managed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC).

“Public-private partnerships here can be a good template,” Pichai said. “This is an area [where], you know, there’s bipartisan interest in making sure that we are thinking about it for the long term.”

Limited common ground for government and tech industry

As competition with China is escalating, cyberattacks are intensifying, and lawmakers express concerns about misinformation and censorship on social media platforms, tech leaders are encouraging Washington to get more involved in the industry and calling for government action.

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There are limits to the potential common ground with the government, particularly regarding rising antitrust scrutiny of tech companies by lawmakers and regulators.

Currently, Google is fighting an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Justice Department alleging it uses anticompetitive practices to preserve a monopoly for its search engine and advertising business.