Schmidt, who played a pivotal role in shaping the digital world, including the carelessness when it comes to online privacy, asserted that the original developers of social media did not foresee its potential negative impacts on democratic values. “None of us thought when we invented social media that we would become a threat to democracy,” Schmidt said.

In his critique, Schmidt called out social media companies for their allegedly lax approach to “misinformation,” suggesting that their failure to police content stemmed from a lack of regulatory compulsion and was driven by profit motives. “The misinformation one is easy,” Schmidt explained, claiming that “the social media companies have chosen not to police it because they haven’t been required to and they make more money because of it.”

However, Schmidt’s stance will raise concerns among free speech advocates who argue that his call for more stringent regulation could lead to excessive censorship and infringe on free expression. Critics argue that the solution to “misinformation” should not rely solely on increased regulation and censorship, but by encouraging open discourse that allows ideas to be debated and scrutinized in the public space.

Schmidt has been a controversial figure in privacy and surveillance discussions. His leadership saw Google vastly expand its data collection, using personal information to tailor advertisements, which raised significant privacy concerns. Schmidt’s views on privacy, epitomized by his statement, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place,” showed a dismissive attitude toward privacy concerns and alarmed both privacy advocates and the public.

Schmidt’s tenure also involved privacy breaches, such as the unauthorized collection of data from unsecured WiFi networks by Google Street View cars, leading to international fines and investigations. Further controversy stemmed from Google’s alleged cooperation with the US National Security Agency (NSA), sharing user data without clear user consent.

Schmidt has, more recently said there should be no online anonymity when using AI.

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“For the first time in our history, we have this one piece of underlying technology which cuts across everything we do today,” Pichai said of generative AI. He said, “I think the opportunity to do well here is something we are leaning into.”

Three years ago, Google released plans to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030. However, the proliferation of AI data centers has led to a surge in the big tech’s power consumption, which, in return, its greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 jumped 48% more than in 2019 on a carbon-dioxide equivalent basis.

Behind the scenes, Google is likely scrambling to secure green energy and curb emissions as 2030 quickly approaches.

“It was a very ambitious target,” Pichai said of the net-zero emissions targets, “and we will still be working very ambitiously towards it. Obviously, the trajectory of AI investments has added to the scale of the task needed.”

He continued, “We are now looking at additional investments, such as solar, and evaluating technologies like small modular nuclear reactors, etc.”

Nikkei noted that Pichai wasn’t clear on where Google might start sourcing nuclear power. A bulk of that power could come from reviving older nuclear power plants. This is exactly what Microsoft did when it signed a power agreement contract with dormant Three Mile Island on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Recall that just last week, we wrote that Sam Altman-backed Nuclear SMR company Oklo announced it had finalized an agreement with the Department of Energy to advance the next phase of the SMR at the Idaho National Lab. And days ago, the Biden administration closed a $1.52 billion loan with Holtec’s Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan to revive it.

Sachem Cove Partners Chief Investment Officer Michael Alkin told Bloomberg shortly after the Microsoft-Three Mile Island deal, “It’s a wake-up call to those that have not been paying attention,” adding that demand already outstrips the supply of uranium and the restart of Three Mile Island “takes that to a bit of a different level.”

Also, the funding markets are becoming more receptive to nuclear deals as governments and big tech understand the only way to hit ambitious net zero goals is not with solar and wind but with nuclear power. In late December 2020, we outlined to readers that this would happen in a note titled “Buy Uranium: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze?”

Furthermore, here’s Goldman’s latest note on uranium prices, which are only expected to “stairstep” higher over time.