Meet Prabhakar Raghavan, the IIT Madras graduate who just received a jaw-dropping ₹300 crore offer from Google, marking a giant leap in his career. Raghavan isn’t just another tech executive; he’s a true trailblazer in the industry with a career spanning over two decades. From his roots in Bhopal to leading teams in Silicon Valley, Raghavan’s journey is as intriguing as it is impressive. Here’s everything you need to know about the Indian whiz.
Prabhakar Raghavan appointed as Google’s Chief Technologist
Google has officially named Prabhakar Raghavan as their new Chief Technologist. Previously, he served as the senior vice president overseeing Google Search, Assistant, Geo, Ads, Commerce, and Payments products. In a note to employees, CEO Sundar Pichai remarked, “Prabhakar has decided it’s time to make a significant leap in his career. After 12 years of leading various teams across Google, he’s returning to his computer science roots to embrace the role of Chief Technologist.
Also read: Google appoints a new chief technologist amid team reshuffle, find out more about Prabhakar Raghavan
Who is Prabhakar Raghavan?
Prabhakar Raghavan,64, started working at Google in 2012 after a solid run at Yahoo, where he managed the search and ads ranking, and also designing the ad marketplaces. He even wrote a famous book on randomized algorithms and has shared his work in over 100 places, getting 20 patents. In 2018, he stepped into the role of senior vice president, overseeing Google Search, Assistant, Geo, Ads, Commerce, and Payments, succeeding Sridhar Ramaswamy. He was instrumental in launching early AI products like Smart Reply and Smart Compose.
Educational qualifications
Raghvan started his academic career at Bhopal’s Campion school and later at IIT Madras, earning a bachelor’s in electrical engineering. He then headed to the University of California, Santa Barbara, for his master’s in electrical and computer engineering, graduating in 1982. Not stopping there, Prabhakar went on to earn his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1986.
Career
After earning his doctorate, Raghavan began his career in research roles at IBM. He then moved to the Almaden Research Center in Silicon Valley, where worked as the senior manager of the computer science principles and methodologies department from 1995 to 2000. During the late 1990s, he also held a position as a consulting professor at Stanford University. Raghavan’s time at Stanford overlapped with the early projects of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who eventually went on to co-found Google.
In 2004, he took on the role of senior vice president and chief technology officer at Verity. Just a year later, in July 2005, he joined Yahoo! as the head of Yahoo! Research in Sunnyvale, California. Sine 2012 he has been working with Google.
Raghavan’s views on Google’s AI expansion
This appointment comes at a time when Google’s core search business is facing intense competition from rivals like Microsoft, OpenAI, and even up-and-coming startups. It also follows a reshuffle within Google’s Knowledge and Information (K&I) team. Pichai emphasised, “By bringing the teams closer together, we can enhance feedback loops, make it easier to deploy our new models in the Gemini app, streamline our post-training processes, and build on the strong momentum we’ve created with our products.”
Google’s tech chief, Raghavan, is championing the potential of AI. He believes AI can revolutionise how we tackle challenges like traffic congestion and forest fires. Raghavan also sees AI as a powerful tool for promoting government transparency and reform.