Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has stirred controversy with recent comments suggesting startups should aggressively pursue growth, even at the expense of intellectual property rights.
Speaking at Stanford University, Schmidt outlined a provocative strategy for aspiring entrepreneurs in the event of a TikTok ban.
“Make me a copy of TikTok, steal all the users, steal all the music, put my preferences in it, produce this program in the next 30 seconds, release it, and in one hour, if it’s not viral, do something different along the same lines.”
Schmidt, known for his influential role in Silicon Valley, elaborated on this approach, stating:
“What you would do if you’re a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, which hopefully all of you will be, is if it took off, then you’d hire a whole bunch of lawyers to go clean the mess up, right? But if nobody uses your product, it doesn’t matter that you stole all the content.”
Schmidt’s candid admission that this is “typically how those things are done” in Silicon Valley raises ethical questions about innovation and intellectual property rights.
The ex-Google chief’s comments come amid broader discussions about work culture and competition in the tech industry. In the same talk, Schmidt criticised Google’s current work-from-home policies, claiming they hindered the company’s competitiveness in the AI race:
“Google decided that work-life balance and going home early and working from home was more important than winning. And the reason the startups work is because the people work like hell.”
While Schmidt later walked back his statements about Google’s work policies, telling The Wall Street Journal he “misspoke about Google and their work hours,” his comments on IP and startup culture remain unclarified.