‘Merci, Dhanyavaad…’: CEO Sundar Pichai sends message to 1 billion users as Google Translate celebrates 20th anniversary

Google is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Google Translate, a tool that has evolved from a niche research project in 2006 into a globally used artificial intelligence (AI) tool by over 1 billion.

Marking the occasion, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reflected on the platform's journey from supporting just a handful of languages at launch to nearly 250 languages today. The company emphasised that the core mission has remained unchanged: helping people understand one another across borders.What started as a small internal experiment has transformed into a sophisticated ecosystem that includes live conversation translation, image-based translation via Google Lens, and real-time transcription.

Read Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s post on Google Translate’s 20th anniversary

Hello. How are you? Thank you. I love you. Please.Some of the most frequently translated phrases of the past 20 years!Google Translate began twenty years ago with a mission to help people understand one another, regardless of the language they speak. What started as a small experiment has become a global tool that helps over 1 billion users every month.In that time Translate has evolved from simple pattern matching to true understanding. In 2006, it relied on statistical machine learning to look for patterns in small word clusters. By 2016, we pioneered a shift to neural networks to move beyond literal word-for-word translations, and today we’re using our powerful Gemini models to make Translate even more helpful.We are moving from text to fluid, real-time conversations. With our latest models, you can even use your headphones as a personal interpreter that preserves your original tone and cadence - it’s an amazing experience!One of the interesting things about AI is that as we make progress, we begin to take it for granted. If you met a person who could translate across a hundred languages faster than any human can, you would be so impressed. Today, one product does that for nearly 250 languages, and we kind of just shrug.Being able to say thank you in 250 languages is not something I take for granted. So to the 1 billion who use Google Translate - merci, dhanyavaad, arigatō, gracias, and thank you! Let’s see what the next 20 years will bring.