Google Cloud Nabs AWS, Microsoft Copilot Execs To Lead AI

Google has hired two top AWS and Microsoft former vice presidents who will lead the company’s newly formed Cloud AI business unit.

Google Cloud has hired two vice presidents from rivals Amazon Web Services and Microsoft to lead its artificial intelligence cloud business as the three IT titans battle for AI market leadership.

Google’s $38 billion cloud business recently hired an 11-year Microsoft veteran and top Copilot executive, Saurabh Tiwary (pictured above left), as its new general manager and vice president for Google’s cloud AI business.

Tiwary was previously corporate vice president of Microsoft where he led a team of software engineers, product managers and scientists to help build the Microsoft Copilot AI experience. His leadership around Copilot touched various business units including Microsoft 365, Windows Copilot, Bing and more, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as VP and General Manager, Cloud AI at Google!” Tiwary recently posted on LinkedIn.

His LinkedIn post received more than 200 comments from executives hailing from Nvidia, Microsoft, DataRobot, Google and many more AI heavy hitters.

Google Hires AWS Exec To Lead Cloud AI Product Management

In another huge hire for Google Cloud, the unit of Mountain View, Calif.-based parent company Alphabet hired former AWS vice president Raj Pai (pictured above right) as new vice president for its Cloud AI business.

Pai will lead the product management team for Google Cloud AI unit and will report to Tiwary.

He was at AWS for 10 years before jumping to Google Cloud in late June. At AWS, he was vice president in charge of leading product management for Amazon EC2 and general management of a few related AWS services. From 2014 to 2019, he was director of product management for Amazon EC2.

“I’m happy to share that I just started my new job as Vice President of Product for Cloud AI at Google!” Pai said in a LinkedIn post last week. His LinkedIn post received over 170 comments including from many IT business leaders.

Both Have Microsoft And Google Experience

In addition to working at AWS, Pai spent 15 years at Microsoft from 1999 until 2014.

Pai worked as a program manager for Office 365 Exchange Enterprise Cloud before leaving for AWS in 2014.

It is also key to note that Tiwary previously worked for Google’s search division for three years from 2010 to 2013 before joining Microsoft. He worked on different aspects of Google search quality including synonyms, quality, large scale intent identification and more, according to his LinkedIn profile.

AWS, Microsoft And Google Battle For Cloud AI Dominance

AWS, Microsoft and Google—combined—account for a whopping 67 percent of the global cloud infrastructure services market.

As of first quarter 2024, AWS owns 31 percent share of the global cloud market, followed by Microsoft at 25 percent, then Google Cloud at 11 percent, according to data from Synergy Research Group.

All three cloud giants are investing millions into growing their AI portfolios around large language models (LLMs), AI agents, AI-powered assistants and hardware that power its artificial intelligence technologies.