Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas recently stirred discussions about the challenges of competing with the Google ecosystem. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he stated that while replicating some Google products is difficult, it is still “doable.” However, he singled out YouTube and Google Maps as the most challenging, perhaps even impossible, to surpass due to their complexity. He wrote, “YouTube and Maps are the hardest. Maybe even impossible. The rest are hard but doable,” in response to a post claiming that no startup could beat Google’s ecosystem.
Reactions from netizens were mixed. Some highlighted the inherent difficulty of competing with Google, citing its deeply interconnected ecosystem, vast data, and established infrastructure across platforms like Photos, Docs, Sheets, YouTube, and Maps. Others debated the specifics, with one user questioning why Google Maps is considered so hard to replicate, pointing out that open-source mapping combined with satellite overlays could achieve much of the functionality, though perfect accuracy remains a challenge. The discussion reflects ongoing curiosity about the future of tech disruption and potential challengers to Google’s dominance.
