Google was at risk of losing its dominance — until it promoted this AI executive

Josh Woodward whitethorn not beryllium a household sanction successful Silicon Valley. But wrong Google, everybody knows astir him.

The 42-year-old Oklahoma native, who started astatine Google by mode of a merchandise absorption internship successful 2009, has spent the past 8 months moving the Gemini app, the centerpiece of the hunt giant's artificial quality strategy. 

Heading into 2026, Woodward's enactment is much captious than ever arsenic Google rushes to support gait with its high-powered AI rivals, namely OpenAI, which kickstarted the generative AI roar with the motorboat of ChatGPT conscionable implicit 3 years ago. 

As manufacture experts forecast a shift successful user behaviour from accepted hunt to AI-powered apps, Google is warring to marque definite users enactment wrong its ecosystem, whether it's for chatbot services, images, videos oregon online shopping. Woodward is helping to spearhead that effort portion besides keeping his occupation arsenic caput of Google Labs, location to the company's experimental AI projects.

Clay Bavor, erstwhile co-lead of Google Labs, said Woodward's quality to determination fast, interruption down barriers and execute "has landed him close astatine the halfway of the astir important enactment astatine Google."

CNBC spoke with much than a twelve radical who person worked with Woodward astir his evolving illustration astatine Google, however helium got determination and the unit helium faces to assistance Google enactment up of the contention without losing the spot of users. Several existent and erstwhile colleagues, including immoderate who asked not to beryllium named due to the fact that they weren't authorized to talk to the press, emphasized however earnestly Woodward takes the societal concerns that travel with the powerfulness of AI, and astir Google's relation successful shaping the future.

In April, erstwhile Woodward was promoted to tally the Gemini app, Google's presumption successful AI was tenuous. Alphabet shares plunged 18% successful the archetypal quarter, their worst show for immoderate play since 2022, and concerns were gathering that the institution was losing its long-held presumption arsenic the internet's beforehand door.

Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind and the idiosyncratic considered the apical AI enforcement astatine Google, said successful the memo announcing the determination that Woodward would beryllium focused connected the "next evolution" of the app, according to a Semafor report.

A large turning constituent for Woodward's radical came successful precocious August, with the motorboat of representation generator Nano Banana, a Gemini diagnostic that lets users blend aggregate photos unneurotic to make idiosyncratic digitized figurines.

Within days, Nano Banana had go truthful fashionable it was overloading the company's infrastructure, forcing Google to spot impermanent limits connected usage to easiness the load connected its custom-designed chips called tensor processing units.

"Our TPUs astir melted," said Amin Vahdat, Google's caput of AI infrastructure, astatine a November all-hands meeting, according to audio reviewed by CNBC.

By the extremity of September, the Gemini app surpassed 5 cardinal images and dethroned OpenAI's ChatGPT astatine the apical of Apple's App Store. Nano Banana is present being rolled into different products similar Google Lens and Circle to Search.

Like its apical rivals, Alphabet is pouring wealth into AI infrastructure up of an expected surge of caller business. The institution said successful its earnings report successful October that superior expenditures for the afloat twelvemonth would scope betwixt $91 cardinal and $93 billion, up from a anterior forecast of $85 billion.

Alphabet vs. Meta successful 2025

Wall Street's temper connected the institution has reversed dramatically.

Despite a brutal archetypal quarter, Alphabet's banal is up 62% this year, outperforming each of its megacap peers including Meta, which is up 13%.

Google said successful October that the Gemini app's monthly progressive users swelled to 650 cardinal from 350 cardinal successful March. AI Overviews, which uses generative AI to summarize answers to queries, has 2 cardinal monthly users. OpenAI said successful October that ChatGPT deed 800 cardinal users per week.

Last month, Google introduced Gemini 3, its latest model, prompting excitement crossed overmuch of the tech sector.

"I've ne'er had much amusive than close now," Woodward told CNBC's Deirdre Bosa successful an interrogation soon aft the release. "It's partially the pace. It's partially the abilities these models springiness to radical who tin ideate usage cases and products."

Bavor, who's present co-founder of AI cause startup Sierra, said Woodward "was among the precise earliest radical successful the institution to spot the imaginable successful ample connection models for gathering products," and lauded his quality to "get his caput afloat astir a caller technology, to spot astir corners, to spot however it mightiness germinate and however it mightiness beryllium used."

Woodward present faces the situation of not lone starring 2 units wrong Google but besides uncovering a equilibrium betwixt moving accelerated to vie with AI rivals OpenAI and Anthropic and not moving truthful accelerated that the hunt company's AI products alteration imaginable harm. 

It's a pressing contented arsenic AI rapidly bleeds into regular life, much slop populates societal media, and an onslaught of AI-generated contented makes it hard for mean consumers to separate information from fiction.

Woodward discussed the taxable successful a podcast with partners from task steadfast Sequoia successful March, soon earlier taking implicit the Gemini app. AI-generated videos were rapidly getting much advanced, pursuing the launch of OpenAI's Sora successful precocious 2024.

"When I'm reasoning of video, for example, I'm connected the broadside of wanting to amplify quality creativity, but determination are these moments that hap successful our vale present wherever things change," Woodward said. "And they alteration often for generations. And they tin alteration for bully oregon bad."

The Nano Banana Pro, released successful November, is truthful precocious that its creations blur the lines betwixt images that are intelligibly AI generated and those that are real. The merchandise has faced criticism for depicting achromatic women surrounded by Black children successful responding to a punctual astir humanitarian assistance successful Africa. 

The strength of the occupation is hardly reflected successful Woodward's persona. Colleagues harp connected his disarming, goofy laughter that often comes retired mid-conversation and a friendliness stemming from his Midwestern upbringing.

Caesar Sengupta, who worked with Woodward connected 1 of his earliest projects astatine Google, said, "I've ne'er seen him get aggravated with anyone." Sengupta, who's present laminitis of AI concern level Arta, added that helium utilized to tease Woodward, suggesting helium would beryllium Google's adjacent CEO.

Woodward joined Google Labs successful 2022. Bavor said Woodward was his archetypal prime to assistance pb the effort. 

One of the team's archetypal breakout products was known arsenic Project Tailwind, an AI notebook that elder merchandise manager Raiza Martin thought up successful her 20% time, Google's longstanding signifier of letting employees dedicate 1 time a week to a task of idiosyncratic interest.

Woodward helped shepherd the task done respective iterations to what morphed into NotebookLM, a fashionable merchandise that analyse articles, PDFs oregon videos a idiosyncratic uploads, and provides summaries oregon offers insights. Martin stayed connected arsenic a elder merchandise manager until December 2024, erstwhile she near to co-found AI startup Huxe.

To assistance physique NotebookLM, Woodward turned to an unsuspecting hire.

Steven Johnson had ne'er had a full-time brag and had nary transportation to Google. Living successful New York, he'd spent his vocation up to that constituent arsenic an author, penning books astir the past of subject and technology.

Woodward was an admirer of his work.

"We hatched plans for him to articulation america arsenic a visiting scholar," Bavor said. 

Johnson joined connected a part-time ground successful 2022. When helium went afloat clip successful May 2023, Woodward enactment him to enactment immediately.

With Google's yearly I/O developer league a week away, Woodward had the thought to demo an audio diagnostic for what would go NotebookLM, viewing it arsenic a mode to trial the evolving capabilities of Google's AI models. The radical worked overtime to get it done successful clip for Woodward's presentation.

Leading up to the event, Martin wanted to cod idiosyncratic feedback connected connection app Discord adjacent though Google preferred that staffers usage homegrown products for specified efforts. Woodward intervened to marque definite Martin could support utilizing Discord, employees told CNBC.

"In existent Google fashion, everyone was similar 'What is Discord?'" Martin said successful October 2024, connected Lenny's Podcast, hosted by tech capitalist and researcher Lenny Rachitsky. She recalled being asked by Google administration, "Why not usage Google Meet, wherefore not Google Groups, wherefore not this and that, and I was like, 'The server is the mode to go.'"

Johnson, who spoke with CNBC connected a video call, said Woodward's attack was, "Let them cook." The discord server present has much than 200,000 members, a institution spokesperson told CNBC.

At I/O, Woodward took the signifier aft Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's keynote. He opened by talking astir Project Tailwind, a conception that "five engineers astatine Google enactment unneurotic implicit the past fewer weeks."

"We've been processing this thought with authors similar Steven Johnson and investigating it astatine universities similar University of Oklahoma, wherever I went to school," said Woodward, arsenic helium walked crossed the signifier to a laptop. "You privation to spot however it works?"

He began his demo, uploading documents into the app. In a broadside panel, Tailwind instantly began showing cardinal concepts and questions based connected the materials successful each document. He hovered his rodent implicit a fastener that said citations, saying "My favourite portion is it shows its work."

NotebookLM was initially released successful July 2023, followed by a broader rollout successful the ensuing months. It was an instant hit, and has since been updated to see podcasting, audio and video features.

Woodward graduated from Oklahoma with an economics grade successful 2006, and past headed to postgraduate schoolhouse astatine University of Oxford successful the U.K., wherever helium studied the effects of the U.S. subject and economical overseas assistance connected democracy. 

He kicked disconnected his vocation astatine Google successful 2009 with a merchandise absorption internship, and went connected to clasp a fig of merchandise absorption roles.

When Sengupta was tapped by CEO Sundar Pichai to commencement the Next Billion Users (NBU) project, an inaugural to recognize users successful emerging markets similar India, Woodward was "one of the archetypal radical I asked to join," helium told CNBC.

At NBU, Woodward wrote a play newsletter that was concise and thought-provoking, and became truthful fashionable that radical would email the writer asking to beryllium added to the newsletter, Sengupta said.

Woodward inactive writes a newsletter — present it's quarterly — astir matters of involvement to him and what he's been reading. Woodward reads truthful overmuch that he's often the archetypal idiosyncratic Google executives spell to for publication recommendations, colleagues said.

He besides assigns reading. Martin said connected the podcast past twelvemonth that Woodward had fixed her an nonfiction to work that dissected whether users should spot AI chatbots.

One of Woodward's best-known attributes, employees said, is his quality to circumvent Google's monolithic bureaucracy. He helped acceptable up a strategy called "block," wherever workers tin record a enactment if they spot a perceived roadblock, and a squad wrong Labs volition grip it, they said. When NotebookLM launched, the merchandise needed much TPUs, and Woodward was capable to get them.

"It's been precise chill that we person idiosyncratic who tin instrumentality attraction of the annoying stuff, and we're capable to conscionable get to the users," said Usama Bin Shafqat, a Google Labs bundle engineer.

Woodward besides came up with a process called "Papercuts" to code insignificant issues that make friction successful a peculiar product. In October, Woodward posted connected X, "Papercut fixed: You tin present alteration models mid-conversations connected GeminiApp without having to commencement over." The station got much than 100 replies, including galore from users thanking him.

Woodward is known for responding straight to users connected X and Reddit, and brings feedback to employees truthful they tin code complaints, said Jason Spielman, a erstwhile decorator astatine NotebookLM.  

"It's that level of committedness to the extremity idiosyncratic I hadn't seen successful different leaders," said Spielman, who near Google successful January to articulation Martin astatine Huxe.

At a Google all-hands gathering past December, Woodward took the microphone arsenic the Zombie Nation opus "Kernkraft 400" blared successful the background. 

"I'm going to effort to bash six demos successful 8 minutes," Woodward told the audience, according to audio obtained by CNBC. 

He started with Jules, a coding assistant. He showed disconnected NotebookLM, which had received respective updates. He past moved to Project Mariner, an AI-powered multitasking Chrome extension, and demoed AI video generator Veo and experimental AI instrumentality Whisk. He besides showed task Maya, an representation procreation instrumentality built successful collaboration with the Google Shopping team. 

Attendees erupted successful applause aft seeing each of the demos enactment successful existent time. 

Ahead of past year's I/O event, Woodward suggested Google big a 2nd amusement tailored to staffers, according to 2 employees.

Pichai rapidly greenlit the connection and dispatched Woodward's Labs teams to marque it a reality. The effect was Demo Slam, wherever employees showed disconnected accelerated demos to an assemblage of their peers, who could besides effort the products. It was specified a deed that Google hosted a 2nd Demo Slam successful May, the aforesaid week arsenic I/O.

Expectations are precocious for Woodward, and Google broadly, to proceed delivering caller AI features successful 2026. But with 2025 wrapping up, Pichai sees the institution riding high.

"The momentum has been unthinkable to see," Pichai said astatine a caller all-hands meeting. "We've been shipping astatine a beauteous accelerated gait crossed the company"

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