Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Stephen Colbert: ‘We Don’t Do Data Mining’ [VIDEO]

When he isn’t planning world domination or monetizing our thoughts, Google CEO Eric Schmidt sheds his robot exterior to reveal he has a sense of humor, and is – indeed – a real boy.

The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Eric Schmidt
www.colbertnation.com

While the subtext of every interview with Stephen Colbert is humor, the one thing that Schmidt does emphasize is that the company is not into data mining. Twice.

0:50 mark

Colbert: You make your cash by essentially data-mining on what we Americans care about, right?

Schmidt: Uh, not true.

1:45 mark:

Colbert: So, uh, you wouldn’t call that data mining?

Schmidt: No, actually we don’t do data mining.

And… scene.

While one could conceivably argue semantics of the discussion, as many have on the Twitters, the interview should be best viewed through the lens of publicity.

At some point did the notorious GOOG decided that public appearances of the CEO is good for business. On the heels of Google Instant and the Bing/Yahoo merger gaining steam, was this a PR ploy or just a cursory appearance?