Former Google CEO suggests startups can steal IP, then get lawyers ‘to clean up the mess”

Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt made some controversial remarks in an address to Stanford students, including a suggestion AI startups can steal intellectual property and have lawyers come behind to “clean up the mess”. 

The influential figure was taking part in an interview with the group of students with the content uploaded to the university’s YouTube channel, but it was suddenly pulled after several media outlets picked up on the comments. 

The video of the event is now private.

In a strong address, Schmidt appeared to rail against Google’s working practices and staffing levels, suggesting the company has been overtaken in some aspects by OpenAI because “working from home was more important than winning.”

The 69-year-old served as CEO of the U.S. tech giant between 2001 and 2011, and was the company’s executive chairman from 2011 to 2015. Earlier this year, Forbes reported he was involved in a clandestine military drone project, while he remains a regular investor in startups.

In a Stanford talk posted today, Eric Schmidt says the reason why Google is losing to @OpenAI and other startups is because Google only has people coming in 1 day per week