GOOGLE:
Google plans to make scaling its Gemini AI for consumers its top priority in 2025, CEO Sundar Pichai revealed during a recent strategy meeting. Speaking to employees at Google’s Mountain View headquarters and virtually, Pichai emphasized the urgency of the moment as the company faces increasing competition from AI rivals like Perplexity and OpenAI, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal regulators.
“I think 2025 will be critical,” Pichai told the team. “It’s really important we internalize the urgency of this moment and move faster as a company. The stakes are high. These are disruptive moments. In 2025, we need to stay relentlessly focused on unlocking the benefits of this technology and solving real user problems.”
PROJECT ASTA:
To meet these goals, Pichai announced plans to launch several new AI features in the first half of the year and to roll out updates for the much-anticipated Project Asta. While Google experienced strong growth from its search ads and cloud services this year, its industry dominance could face challenges in 2025 due to recent legal setbacks. In August, Google lost an antitrust case brought by the Department of Justice and 38 state attorneys general, with a federal judge ruling that the company holds an illegal monopoly in search and text markets. Later in November, the DOJ urged that Google be forced to divest its Chrome browser division. Additional pressure has come from the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, which accused Google in September of harming competition by leveraging its dominance in online display advertising to favor its own ad tech services.
“It’s not lost on me that we are facing scrutiny worldwide,” Pichai acknowledged. “This comes with our size and success. It’s part of a broader trend where tech is now impacting society at scale. More than ever, through this moment, we must ensure we don’t get distracted.”
Despite these challenges, Pichai noted the recent progress of the Gemini app, saying, “There is strong momentum, particularly over the last few months. But in 2025, we have work to do to close the gap and establish a leadership position in this space.” Google has already made significant investments in its AI efforts, and those investments are expected to increase next year.
“Scaling Gemini on the consumer side will be our biggest focus next year,” Pichai stated.
