Google’s co-founders are reaping the rewards of the AI frenzy, adding more than $17 billion to their combined wealth as the company unveiled a revamped search engine. Larry Page’s net worth increased by $8.7 billion this week to $106.2 billion, while Sergey Brin’s rose $8.3 billion to $101.5 billion, putting them on track for their biggest weekly gain since February 2021.
Google said at its annual developer conference on Wednesday that the Mountain View, California-based company will start experimenting with a more conversational search engine and has made its AI-powered chatbot available more broadly. That’s helping the firm assert dominance in an increasingly competitive field.
Page and Brin have been helping with the AI push and are more involved in the company than they have been in years. They are among the biggest gainers of 2023 after adding more than $22 billion to their wealth and are ranked as the eighth- and ninth-richest people in the world, respectively.
Google’s former chief executive officer, Eric Schmidt, is another beneficiary of the AI boom. He’s invested in many startups in the field and has rejected public calls to slow down the speed of research, citing concerns over China’s advances in tech.
