When ChatGPT first came out, there was a lot of talk about why Google wasn’t the company behind it.
After all, the search engine giant owned the world’s best AI lab, DeepMind, published the research paper that laid the foundation for the large language model behind OpenAI’s chatbot, and dug its deep pockets into AI development. If any company should be the first to present generative AI in an appealing, consumer-friendly package, some say it should have been Google.
The company may have been getting in its own way. It was a classic case of what business guru Clayton Christensen described in 1997 as the “innovator’s dilemma”: an established corporation becomes complacent and cedes ground to younger companies with fresher ideas.
Still, Google is determined to remind everyone of its ability to move quickly and innovate, and with the launch event of its latest AI-powered Pixel devices, the company is trying to do just that.
During Tuesday’s Made by Google event, which was brought forward from October, the company showcased the latest features of its generative AI system Gemini on a range of next-generation hardware, including new Pixel smartphones, a smartwatch and buds.
The Pixel Watch 3 was introduced during the Made By Google event. Justin Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images
Capture fantasy
One of the standout features is the “Add Me” feature, which allows users to add themselves to a photo they weren’t originally in by taking another picture of themselves in the position of the first photo and then letting the AI combine the two images.
Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, expects the feature to “capture consumers’ imaginations.” The photo and video features unveiled on Tuesday are among the “most compelling AI-powered innovations to date.”
Of course, Google still lags far behind rivals like Apple and Samsung in the hardware space, with Pixel sales accounting for only a fraction of the revenue generated by iPhone and Galaxy devices.
But after former device chief Rick Osterloh took over as head of a newly created division earlier this year that combined the Android and hardware teams, the company has a new medium to demonstrate Gemini’s uses and benefits.
Or to put it another way: Google has the chance to show that the company is doing what critics thought it had not done back when the release of ChatGPT triggered an internal red alert: It is moving forward quickly again.
What seems less certain than ever is his future destination.
Which way, Google?
Google is once again setting a fast pace and has brought forward its launch event from October. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
As the company strives to innovate in AI, it faces several challenges that create real uncertainty about where the company will end up in the future.
This month, a U.S. federal judge ruled in a 286-page ruling that the company was not only a monopolist but also “acted as such,” handing the company a brutal verdict in an antitrust case brought by the Justice Department four years ago.
As a drastic solution to Google’s monopoly, the US Department of Justice is considering breaking up the company. According to a report published by Bloomberg on Tuesday, Android and Chrome are the “most likely business areas for divestment.”
Search for a solution
Lawmakers failed to break Microsoft into two separate entities after a high-profile antitrust case in the 1990s simultaneously branded the Windows maker a monopolist, so it’s uncertain how successful they would be in their attempt to break up Google.
But Google is being urged to take some sort of remedy to loosen its grip on the technology sector. Another possible remedy, according to my colleague Alistair Barr, is for Google to make its search index publicly available.
Beyond the legal battle, the company is also having great difficulty convincing investors that its unusual AI developments will generate profits.
After announcing its latest earnings last month, the company struggled to convince investors of the returns it could expect as it doubles down on spending on artificial intelligence: capital expenditures nearly doubled to $13 billion in the quarter compared to the same period last year.
Investors did not react very kindly. In the last month alone, Google shares lost almost 12 percent.
So yes, Google is moving quickly again. You just shouldn’t be so sure where it’s going.
