Google Q&A: How Chromebooks are navigating the AI era

For years, Chromebooks have served as the loyal opposition to PCs. Google's laptops offer many of the same Google services as you can find via the Web, but integrated into an inexpensive package for consumers and students. I sat down with John Solomon, vice president of ChromeOS and education at Google, to ask about the new wave of AI PCs and how Google responds. We talk about how "generic" Chromebooks survive as Google pushes Chromebook Plus, how kids can be encouraged to game on Chromebooks as well as learn, and what Google is cooking up in response to Microsoft's Recall for Copilot PCs. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Mark Hachman, PCWorld: I saw your presentation at Computex as a way to remind people that there are more than just AI PCs. So, in light of those products, what is the value proposition of a Chromebook these days? John Solomon, Google: As you know, we have Chromebook and Chromebook Plus. In Chromebook, it has always been about and continues to be about delivering really great value, the best place to experience access to Google services. Whether it's Google Workspace, or more broadly, Chrome, we work very hard to make sure that first-party products as well as the Play Store work well on Chromebook.