Google chief executive officer Sundar Pichai told employees last week that the stakes are high in 2025 as the company faces increasing competition and regulatory hurdles.
Moreover, in the context of the mentioned statement, the rapid development of artificial intelligence was mentioned. It is worth noting that Google is making significant efforts to take its place in the relevant industry. The company is also involved in the process of directly developing artificial intelligence as a technology.
According to media reports, in December, during a meeting on Google’s strategy for 2025, Sundar Pichai and other leaders of the digital giant literally praised the next year through the prism of a positive perception of the prospects of their future and within the framework of enthusiasm in the context of their own aspirations. It is worth paying attention to the special circumstance that representatives of the company have what can be called high expectations regarding the development of artificial intelligence.
Sundar Pichai stated that, in his opinion, 2025 will be a critical year. He also separately noted that it is really important for the company to realize the importance of this moment and act faster. Sundar Pichai underlined that the stakes are high. According to him, these are disruptive moments. Sundar Pichai stated that in 2025, the company should focus on unlocking the benefits of artificial intelligence and solving the real problems of users.
Some employees attended the meeting in person at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, and others tuned in virtually.
It is worth noting that Sundar Pichai’s mentioned statements were made after a year in which the company he led faced the most intense pressure since the firm went public two decades ago. Areas of activity such as search ads and cloud services provided significant revenue growth for Google. At the same time, competition in the core markets for the company has intensified. Moreover, Google is facing internal problems. In the relevant context, it is worth mentioning cultural clashes and concerns about Sundar Pichai’s vision for the future.
Apart from that, a new fact of reality is the current regulatory practice, which is now heavier than ever. This circumstance affects all players in the global technology sector to one degree or another, and Google is not an exception or a special case. In August, a federal judge ruled that the company illegally holds a monopoly on the search market. In November, the US Justice Department asked that Google be forced to divest its Chrome internet browser unit and, in a separate case, accused the firm of illegally dominating online ad technology. That trial closed in September and awaits a judge’s ruling. Also in the mentioned month, the British competition watchdog published a statement objecting to Google’s ad tech practices, which, according to the regulator’s preliminary conclusion, have an impact on rivalry in the United Kingdom.
Sundar Pichai stated that the fact that the company is facing scrutiny all over the world has not been left out of his attention. According to him, the relevant situation is related to the size of Google and its success. He also stated that this is part of a broader trend in which technology has a massive impact on society. Drawing attention to this fact, Sundar Pichai stated that the company must be sure that it does not get distracted.
A Google spokesperson declined to comment on the mentioned statement.
The company’s search business still has a dominant market share. At the same time, generative artificial intelligence has provided people with many new ways to access online information and increased competition.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT debut in November 2022 marked the initial stage of the so-called machine intelligence boom. Against this background, a global interest in artificial intelligence has emerged, which has, among other things, an investment form of expression. As part of the relevant trend, OpenAI’s market capitalization reached $157 billion. In July, the ChatGPT developer announced the launch of its own search engine. Perplexity AI is also promoting its search service powered by artificial intelligence. In the current year, this player in the machine intelligence industry closed a $500 million funding round. The market capitalization of Perplexity AI is $9 billion.
Google is making significant investments in the development of artificial intelligence. The company is aware of the importance and huge potential of machine intelligence. Google’s main product in the relevant industry is an artificial intelligence model called Gemini. The app of the same name provides users with access to several tools, including a chatbot.
Sundar Pichai stated that building a new big business is a top priority. In this case, among other things, the Gemini app is meant which executives see as the company’s next app to reach half a billion users. Currently, there are 15 virtual products in the mentioned category in Google’s digital ecosystem that have hit the specified marks.
Sundar Pichai stated that the Gemini app has been gaining momentum, especially in the last few months. At the same time, he noted that next year the company will have to do some work to close the gap and establish a leading position. Sundar Pichai stated that scaling Gemini on the consumer side will be the biggest focus for Google in 2025.
Also during the meeting, Mr. Pichai showed a chart of large language models, in which Gemini is leading GPT OpenAI and other competitors. He admitted that Google had to play catch-up. Moreover, Sundar Pichai stated that in history, you don’t always need to be the first, but you need to perform well and really be the best in class as a product. According to him, this is what 2025 is all about.
Executives answered questions that came from employees through the company’s internal system. In one of the questions, it was noted that ChatGPT is becoming synonymous with artificial intelligence, just as Google is synonymous with search. An employee of the company who asked this question asked what is the plan to combat this in the coming year. As part of the response DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis заявил, что teams are going to turbocharge the Gemini app and the firm has seen progress in the number of users since launching this app in February.
Also in the first half of next year, Astra, the experimental version of Google’s universal virtual assistant, will be updated. The company announced this product in May.
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