Google was prone to shedding dominance till selling Josh Woodward

Josh Woodward will not be a family identify in Silicon Valley. However inside Google, everyone is aware of about him.

The 42-year-old Oklahoma native, who began at Google by means of a product administration internship in 2009, has spent the previous eight months working the Gemini app, the centerpiece of the search large’s synthetic intelligence technique. 

Heading into 2026, Woodward’s work is extra vital than ever as Google rushes to maintain tempo with its high-powered AI rivals, specifically OpenAI, which kickstarted the generative AI growth with the launch of ChatGPT simply over three years in the past. 

As trade specialists forecast a shift in client habits from conventional search to AI-powered apps, Google is combating to verify customers keep inside its ecosystem, whether or not it is for chatbot companies, photos, movies or on-line purchasing. Woodward helps to spearhead that effort whereas additionally conserving his job as head of Google Labs, residence to the corporate’s experimental AI initiatives.

Clay Bavor, former co-lead of Google Labs, stated Woodward’s capacity to maneuver quick, break down boundaries and execute “has landed him proper on the middle of crucial work at Google.”

CNBC spoke with greater than a dozen individuals who have labored with Woodward about his evolving profile at Google, how he bought there and the strain he faces to assist Google keep forward of the competitors with out shedding the belief of customers. A number of present and former colleagues, together with some who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk to the press, emphasised how significantly Woodward takes the societal issues that include the ability of AI, and about Google’s function in shaping the long run.

In April, when Woodward was promoted to run the Gemini app, Google’s place in AI was tenuous. Alphabet shares plunged 18% within the first quarter, their worst efficiency for any interval since 2022, and issues had been constructing that the corporate was shedding its long-held place because the web’s entrance door.

Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind and the particular person thought-about the highest AI govt at Google, stated within the memo asserting the transfer that Woodward can be targeted on the “subsequent evolution” of the app, based on a Semafor report.

A serious turning level for Woodward’s group got here in late August, with the launch of picture generator Nano Banana, a Gemini function that lets customers mix a number of pictures collectively to create private digitized collectible figurines.

Inside days, Nano Banana had develop into so well-liked it was overloading the corporate’s infrastructure, forcing Google to position short-term limits on utilization to ease the burden on its custom-designed chips referred to as tensor processing models.

“Our TPUs virtually melted,” stated Amin Vahdat, Google’s head of AI infrastructure, at a November all-hands assembly, based on audio reviewed by CNBC.

By the top of September, the Gemini app surpassed 5 billion photos and dethroned OpenAI’s ChatGPT on the high of Apple’s App Retailer. Nano Banana is now being rolled into different merchandise like Google Lens and Circle to Search.

Like its high rivals, Alphabet is pouring cash into AI infrastructure forward of an anticipated surge of recent enterprise. The corporate stated in its earnings report in October that capital expenditures for the complete yr would attain between $91 billion and $93 billion, up from a previous forecast of $85 billion.

Wall Avenue’s temper on the corporate has reversed dramatically.

Regardless of a brutal first quarter, Alphabet’s inventory is up 62% this yr, outperforming all of its megacap friends together with Meta, which is up 13%.

Google stated in October that the Gemini app’s month-to-month energetic customers swelled to 650 million from 350 million in March. AI Overviews, which makes use of generative AI to summarize solutions to queries, has 2 billion month-to-month customers. OpenAI stated in October that ChatGPT hit 800 million customers per week.

Final month, Google launched Gemini 3, its newest mannequin, prompting pleasure throughout a lot of the tech sector.

“I’ve by no means had extra enjoyable than proper now,” Woodward instructed CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa in an interview quickly after the discharge. “It is partly the tempo. It is partly the skills these fashions give to individuals who can think about use circumstances and merchandise.”

Bavor, who’s now co-founder of AI agent startup Sierra, stated Woodward “was among the many very earliest folks within the firm to see the potential in massive language fashions for constructing merchandise,” and lauded his capacity to “get his thoughts absolutely round a brand new expertise, to see round corners, to see the way it may evolve and the way it could be used.”

Woodward now faces the problem of not solely main two models inside Google but additionally discovering a steadiness between shifting quick to compete with AI rivals OpenAI and Anthropic and never shifting so quick that the search firm’s AI merchandise allow potential hurt. 

It is a urgent problem as AI quickly bleeds into each day life, extra slop populates social media, and an onslaught of AI-generated content material makes it troublesome for common shoppers to differentiate reality from fiction.

Woodward mentioned the theme in a podcast with companions from enterprise agency Sequoia in March, shortly earlier than taking up the Gemini app. AI-generated movies had been quickly getting extra superior, following the launch of OpenAI’s Sora in late 2024.

“After I’m considering of video, for instance, I am on the aspect of desirous to amplify human creativity, however there are these moments that occur in our valley right here the place issues change,” Woodward stated. “And so they change usually for generations. And so they can change for good or unhealthy.”

The Nano Banana Professional, launched in November, is so superior that its creations blur the traces between photos which can be clearly AI generated and people which can be actual. The product has confronted criticism for depicting white girls surrounded by Black kids in responding to a immediate about humanitarian help in Africa. 

The depth of the job is hardly mirrored in Woodward’s persona. Colleagues harp on his disarming, goofy snicker that usually comes out mid-conversation and a friendliness stemming from his Midwestern upbringing.

Caesar Sengupta, who labored with Woodward on one in every of his earliest initiatives at Google, stated, “I’ve by no means seen him get indignant with anybody.” Sengupta, who’s now founding father of AI finance platform Arta, added that he used to tease Woodward, suggesting he can be Google’s subsequent CEO.

Woodward joined Google Labs in 2022. Bavor stated Woodward was his first alternative to assist lead the hassle. 

One of many group’s first breakout merchandise was often known as Challenge Tailwind, an AI pocket book that senior product supervisor Raiza Martin thought up in her 20% time, Google’s longstanding follow of letting staff dedicate in the future every week to a venture of private curiosity.

Woodward helped shepherd the venture by a number of iterations to what morphed into NotebookLM, a preferred product that analyze articles, PDFs or movies a consumer uploads, and offers summaries or gives insights. Martin stayed on as a senior product supervisor till December 2024, when she left to co-found AI startup Huxe.

To assist construct NotebookLM, Woodward turned to an unsuspecting rent.

Steven Johnson had by no means had a full-time boss and had no connection to Google. Dwelling in New York, he’d spent his profession as much as that time as an creator, writing books in regards to the historical past of science and expertise.

Woodward was an admirer of his work.

“We hatched plans for him to hitch us as a visiting scholar,” Bavor stated. 

Johnson joined on a part-time foundation in 2022. When he went full time in Could 2023, Woodward put him to work instantly.

With Google’s annual I/O developer convention every week away, Woodward had the thought to demo an audio function for what would develop into NotebookLM, viewing it as a option to take a look at the evolving capabilities of Google’s AI fashions. The group labored extra time to get it finished in time for Woodward’s presentation.

Main as much as the occasion, Martin needed to gather consumer suggestions on communication app Discord though Google most well-liked that staffers use homegrown merchandise for such efforts. Woodward intervened to verify Martin may hold utilizing Discord, staff instructed CNBC.

“In true Google style, everybody was like ‘What’s Discord?'” Martin stated in October 2024, on Lenny’s Podcast, hosted by tech investor and researcher Lenny Rachitsky. She recalled being requested by Google administration, “Why not use Google Meet, why not Google Teams, why not this and that, and I used to be like, ‘The server is the way in which to go.'”

Johnson, who spoke with CNBC on a video name, stated Woodward’s method was, “Allow them to cook dinner.” The discord server now has greater than 200,000 members, an organization spokesperson instructed CNBC.

At I/O, Woodward took the stage after Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s keynote. He opened by speaking about Challenge Tailwind, an idea that “5 engineers at Google put collectively over the previous few weeks.”

“We have been creating this concept with authors like Steven Johnson and testing it at universities like College of Oklahoma, the place I went to highschool,” stated Woodward, as he walked throughout the stage to a laptop computer. “You wish to see the way it works?”

He started his demo, importing paperwork into the app. In a aspect panel, Tailwind immediately started exhibiting key ideas and questions based mostly on the supplies in every doc. He hovered his mouse over a button that stated citations, saying “My favourite half is it reveals its work.”

NotebookLM was initially launched in July 2023, adopted by a broader rollout within the ensuing months. It was an instantaneous hit, and has since been up to date to incorporate podcasting, audio and video options.

Woodward graduated from Oklahoma with an economics diploma in 2006, after which headed to graduate faculty at College of Oxford within the U.Okay., the place he studied the results of the U.S. navy and financial international help on democracy. 

He kicked off his profession at Google in 2009 with a product administration internship, and went on to carry quite a lot of product administration roles.

When Sengupta was tapped by CEO Sundar Pichai to begin the Subsequent Billion Customers (NBU) venture, an initiative to know customers in rising markets like India, Woodward was “one of many first folks I requested to hitch,” he instructed CNBC.

At NBU, Woodward wrote a weekly e-newsletter that was concise and thought-provoking, and have become so well-liked that individuals would e mail the creator asking to be added to the e-newsletter, Sengupta stated.

Woodward nonetheless writes a e-newsletter — now it is quarterly — about issues of curiosity to him and what he is been studying. Woodward reads a lot that he is usually the primary particular person Google executives go to for e book suggestions, colleagues stated.

He additionally assigns studying. Martin stated on the podcast final yr that Woodward had given her an article to learn that dissected whether or not customers ought to belief AI chatbots.

Considered one of Woodward’s best-known attributes, staff stated, is his capacity to avoid Google’s huge paperwork. He helped arrange a system referred to as “block,” the place employees can file a be aware in the event that they see a perceived roadblock, and a group inside Labs will deal with it, they stated. When NotebookLM launched, the product wanted extra TPUs, and Woodward was in a position to get them.

“It has been very cool that we’ve got somebody who can care for the annoying stuff, and we’re in a position to simply get to the customers,” stated Usama Bin Shafqat, a Google Labs software program engineer.

Woodward additionally got here up with a course of referred to as “Papercuts” to deal with minor points that create friction in a specific product. In October, Woodward posted on X, “Papercut fastened: Now you can change fashions mid-conversations on GeminiApp with out having to begin over.” The put up bought greater than 100 replies, together with many from customers thanking him.

Woodward is thought for responding on to customers on X and Reddit, and brings suggestions to staff to allow them to handle complaints, stated Jason Spielman, a former designer at NotebookLM.  

“It is that stage of dedication to the top consumer I hadn’t seen in different leaders,” stated Spielman, who left Google in January to hitch Martin at Huxe.

At a Google all-hands assembly final December, Woodward took the microphone because the Zombie Nation tune “Kernkraft 400” blared within the background. 

“I will attempt to do six demos in eight minutes,” Woodward instructed the viewers, based on audio obtained by CNBC. 

He began with Jules, a coding assistant. He confirmed off NotebookLM, which had acquired a number of updates. He then moved to Challenge Mariner, an AI-powered multitasking Chrome extension, and demoed AI video generator Veo and experimental AI device Whisk. He additionally confirmed venture Maya, a picture era device in-built collaboration with the Google Buying group. 

Attendees erupted in applause after seeing the entire demos work in actual time. 

Forward of final yr’s I/O occasion, Woodward instructed Google host a second present tailor-made to staffers, based on two staff.

Pichai shortly greenlit the proposal and dispatched Woodward’s Labs groups to make it a actuality. The consequence was Demo Slam, the place staff confirmed off speedy demos to an viewers of their friends, who may additionally strive the merchandise. It was such successful that Google hosted a second Demo Slam in Could, the identical week as I/O.

Expectations are excessive for Woodward, and Google broadly, to proceed delivering new AI options in 2026. However with 2025 wrapping up, Pichai sees the corporate driving excessive.

“The momentum has been unbelievable to see,” Pichai stated at a current all-hands assembly. “We have been transport at a fairly quick tempo throughout the corporate”

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