Maybe. Or, perhaps, was told an overly-optimistic story that changed as it floated up the hierarchy: engineer: well, yeah, we've got something. It's OK. But

Maybe. Or, perhaps, was told an overly-optimistic story that changed as it floated up the hierarchy: engineer: well, yeah, we've got something. It's OK. But it has limitations and needs to be used very carefully. engineer's boss: we've got something. It's OK. AVP: we've got something. VP: We've got something! SVP: We've got something. It's great! CTO: We've got something. It's great! It's just what we need to counter the press noise! CEO: Phew. Great. Get it out there. None of which exonerates Pichai. Given the significance of the threat to the firm, the "code red", the knowledge that he's personally going to take heat, he should've been all over this. Imagine Steve Jobs in a similar situation. He'd have been over it like a rash. So no: Pichai doesn't get away with blaming someone else. His job.