Google CEO
Google’s held its Big Tent Seoul 2013 on October 30 at Platoon Kunsthalle in Gangnam. The event featured a Fireside Chat with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, and his interviewer Yang Young-eun, a noted news anchor for the Korea Broadcasting System (KBS). In it he spoke about a variety of topics, from Android to Korean culture, the Korean alphabet of Hangul, meeting Psy, how to make another global sensation, and the future of the Internet.
Ms. Yang first asked him why Google had made a donation to a Hangul museum earlier that day. He responded by saying that he has always been personally interested in Hangul and Korean culture in general. He said, “Koreans are proud of their alphabet. But also, you can type very fast with it, so Koreans are digital leaders because of that.” He went on to reiterate that Google was very interested in working more closely with the Korean government in taking Korean culture to the world. He also said that Google greatly values its partnerships with LG and Samsung that are responsible for the #1 position of Android in the global smartphone OS market. Finally, he mentioned that YouTube is very widely utilized by Koreans, and Google recognizes that fact.
The fireside chat turned to the subject of Korean culture. When asked, CEO Schmidt said that his first encounter with Korean culture was through K-pop. “And for most people, K-pop means Psy Park,” Eric explained. He also spoke about his appreciation for the Korean culture he saw when visiting Korea. “Korea has always had an outstanding sense of style, of culture. Look at th quality of the buildings. Even in Pyongyang the buildings were pretty. No one ever talks about how pretty the buildings are. But it shows that style and taste are intrinsic to Korean culture. And that style and taste, K-pop itself, has been very successful as an export.”
Yang Young-eun asked more questions about Psy, bringing up the fact that Eric Schmidt had met and danced with Psy soon after his popularity explosion on YouTube. Then CEO Schmidt was asked what he thinks led to Psy’s success. Eric Schmidt said that Psy is the first of the many new great geniuses of everything that the Internet will discover. “It follows that the Internet generates these phenomenons. In Psy’s case the timing was particularly relevant,” he explained. “The Internet has gotten to that point, YouTube has become mainstream, and he was able to start a new dance craze. Everyone loves to dance.” His point though, was this. “But what we should have known was that somebody would do it. We should have predicted that we will have global phenomenons, and that these people will continue to be discovered.”
Then Ms. Yang asked Eric how he thought it would be possible to replicate Psy’s success. “One of the most important things has to do with language,” he said. “You’re going to have to come up with products that are not particularly Korean language sensitive.” He went on to say that in order to replicate this type of success, Korea will have to have a lot of entrepreneurs. Giving one studio all the money and talent, he pointed out, is not how the world works. “Today in some small town is a child who’s never been to Seoul and will become more important than Psy,” CEO Schmidt predicted. “If we knew where they were we’d find them, but it doesn’t work that way. It is important that a system be able to find these talents.” He qualified his position by saying that people often break into the music industry in their late teens, not at his age. But he re-emphasized that a system where there are many choices and opportunities for potential talent to develop is crucial to finding the next Psy.
Yang Young-eun brought up that CEO Schmidt had predicted the rise of a Psy-like Internet superstar back in 2008. The interviewer asked what other predictions he has. Eric said that he envisions an Internet that evolves from being dumb to being smart. “It answers questions, but you have to ask,” he said of his own company’s search engine. “It doesn’t tell me that I’m in Seoul, I should know about this and anticipate that.” He said that the biggest goal in computer science is to use big data sets to generate answers to potential questions before they are asked. “What museum should I see in Seoul and where should I buy jeans,” he cited as examples of what a search engine should tell its user. “This arrival of intelligence in computers, intelligence that is helpful to you, is important.” He said that computers becoming better at their strengths – remembering things, finding things, doing repetitive, predictable work – will free up people to become more creative and caring. To make more art and music, and to have more time for each other.