Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, made some remarkable statements about AI during a guest lecture at an American university. For example, he seems to have no problem with copying apps and their content using LLMs.

Schmidt was a guest at the prestigious Stanford University. An achievement that Schmidt will remember for a long time, because the former CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet (from 2001 to 2015) made some remarkable statements. So remarkable that the university quickly removed the video, although fragments circulated on social media.

Among other things, Schmidt talked about the opportunities that LLMs will offer for app development. Larger context windows and improved text-to-action features make it easier to develop applications. He wanted to use an example to illustrate how to quickly build “the new TikTok,” the social media platform that is under fire in the US.

“Ask an LLM to copy the app and then copy all the users and content. Specify some personal preferences and ask the LLM to create the program within thirty seconds. If your app hasn’t gone viral within a few hours, make some changes.”

What do you mean by copyright?

Later in the conversation, Schmidt suddenly seemed to understand that there is such a thing as copyright law, adding that he was not encouraging the illegal copying of music. But Schmidt doesn’t think that should stop founders either. Just hire some lawyers “to clean up the mess.” “If nobody is using your app, it doesn’t matter that you stole content,” Schmidt says.

Schmidt’s words make many legal experts choke on their coffee. What Schmidt says is, of course, completely wrong. Just because content is publicly available on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s not subject to copyright, no matter what tech companies may think. So you can’t just “cut and paste” an application with an LLM.

LLMs have not been challenged because of the way the companies behind them have handled copyright. To train the models, the LLMs have been given publicly available resources without regard to copyright and royalties. OpenAI and Google have recently made some agreements to be allowed to use content, but that is a bandage on an open wound.

Working from home instead of winning

It didn’t stop there. Schmidt also had an interesting analysis of why his former employer Google is struggling to compete in the AI ​​world with startups like OpenAI and Anthropic. He claims that Google’s home office policy is holding the company back.

“Google decided that work-life balance and working from home are more important than winning. Startups are successful because people work much harder,” says Schmidt. A vision that sounds a bit outdated. The video of the guest lecture was reportedly removed from YouTube at Schmidt’s own request.