[6] As an intern at Bell Labs, Schmidt in 1975 was co-author of Lex,[7][8][9] a software program to generate lexical analysers for the Unix computer operating system.

Schmidt became the first chair of the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence in 2018, while keeping shares of Alphabet stock, worth over $5.3 billion in 2019.

[4][21] He is one of three sons of Eleanor, who had a master's degree in psychology, and Wilson Emerson Schmidt, a professor of international economics at Virginia Tech and Johns Hopkins University, who worked at the U.S. Treasury Department during the Nixon Administration.

degree for designing and implementing a network (Berknet) linking the campus computer center with the CS and EECS departments.

During his summers at Bell Labs, he and Mike Lesk wrote Lex,[25][7] a program used in compiler construction that generates lexical-analyzers from regular-expression descriptions.

[30][31][32] In the first, his office was taken apart and rebuilt on a platform in the middle of a pond, complete with a working phone and workstation on the corporate Ethernet network.

Impressed by him,[33] they recruited Schmidt to run their company in 2001 under the guidance of venture capitalists John Doerr and Michael Moritz.

[39] In 2007, PC World ranked Schmidt as the first on its list of the 50 most important people on the Web, along with Google co-founders Page and Brin.

[51] To avoid potential conflicts of interest within the role, where Schmidt retained his role as technical adviser to Alphabet, and where Google's bidding for the multi-million dollar Pentagon cloud contract, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, was ongoing: Schmidt screened emails and other communications, stating, "'There’s a rule: I'm not allowed to be briefed' about Google or Alphabet business as it relates to the Defense Department".

[60] According to a court filing, another email exchange shows Google's human resources director asking Schmidt about sharing its no-cold-call agreements with competitors.

The fund, based in Palo Alto, California, invested in companies such as Mashape, Uber, Quixey, Gogobot, BillGuard, and Formlabs.

[70][71] In July 2020, Schmidt started working with the U.S. government to create a tech college as part of an initiative to educate future coders, cyber-security experts and scientists.

[75] In October 2022, he co-authored a piece titled "America Could Lose the Tech Contest With China" for Foreign Affairs with Ylli Bajraktari, former executive director of the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.

[78] Schmidt has been the chairman of Sandbox AQ, a Palo Alto-based quantum computing and AI company that spun off from Alphabet Inc. in 2022.

[82] Schmidt has funded AI startups that develop technology for military applications, including Rebellion Defense,[83][84] Istari,[85] and suicide attack drone company White Stork.

[91] Secretary of Defense Ash Carter appointed Schmidt as chairman of the DoD Innovation Advisory Board announced March 2, 2016.

[107][108] Created in partnership with the Rhodes Trust, the Schmidt Science Fellows program is part of a $100 million commitment to drive scientific leadership and interdisciplinary research.

An initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, which aims to increase the opportunity for exceptional young people worldwide to serve others throughout their lives.

The program, which will find and elevate young people between the ages of 15 and 17 from around the world, will be designed to encourage a lifetime of service and learning by providing support that could include scholarships, career services, and funding opportunities[110] Schmidt has claimed that Google's use of artificial distinctions to avoid paying billions of pounds in corporation tax otherwise owed by its UK operations[111] is "capitalism"[112] and that he was "very proud of it".

"[121] In January 2013, Schmidt and Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas visited North Korea along with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.

[122] The trip was highly publicized and controversial due to the ongoing tension between North Korea and the United States.

[123] On August 10, 2013, North Korea announced an indigenous smartphone, named Arirang, that may be using the Google Android operating system.

[125][126][127] In January 2015, Schmidt and Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, met with Pope Francis to discuss technology and society.

[128][129][130][131][132] In 2013, Schmidt and Jared Cohen, director of the Google Ideas think tank, published The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business, which discusses the geopolitical implications of increasingly widespread Internet use and access to information.

[133][134][135] He also wrote the preface to The Startup Game: Inside the Partnership between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs, by William H. Draper, III.

[139] In his book, Eric Schmidt argues that successful companies in the technology-driven internet age should attract smart and creative employees and create an environment where they can thrive.

"[146] In October 2020, Schmidt stated that social networking services are "amplifiers for idiots and crazy people" and that this was not what the Big Tech firms intended when creating them.

[149][150] This concept was compared to the Silicon Valley mentality of "move fast and break things", which had recently led to lawsuits against OpenAI.

[164] A number of Schmidt's extramarital relationships have attracted publicity, but he and his wife continue joint philanthropic efforts.

[165][166][167] In January 2013, Schmidt visited North Korea with his daughter Sophie,[168] Jared Cohen, and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.