When OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT in late 2022, the impact extended far beyond a new product release — it jolted the entire tech landscape. For decades a leader in AI, Google suddenly found itself reacting to a “little company in San Francisco called OpenAI” that came to the fore with “this product ChatGPT.”
At Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference, Sundar Pichai acknowledged that the industry’s perceptions shifted overnight. “But you’re right, credit to OpenAI, they put it out first,” he conceded — a rare moment of humility from a CEO of Google’s stature.
That launch provoked what insiders at Google refer to as a “code red”: teams reorganised, priorities rewired, and the company’s AI focus intensified dramatically.
Pichai compared the moment to past inflection points in technology — visions once held back by timing, only to be reshaped when the moment was right. “For me, when ChatGPT launched, contrary to what people outside felt, I was excited because I knew the window had shifted,” he said. He saw opportunity, not panic.
Many were surprised to learn that Google had been quietly developing its own conversational AI and the infrastructure to support it. Pichai confirmed, “We knew in a different world, we would’ve probably launched our chatbot maybe a few months down the line.” The issue, he said, wasn’t capability but timing.
Google’s hesitation stemmed from its reputation for trust and reliability. Pichai admitted the company was wary of “reputational risk” — launching a generative AI tool prematurely could backfire. OpenAI’s approach, by contrast, was more audacious: ship early and iterate in public.
Because Google’s brand equity rests heavily on quality, it opted for caution. Pichai implied that even with a working AI, releasing it without sufficient internal validation risked damaging user trust.
By March 2023, Google launched Bard, its answer to ChatGPT — later rebranded as Gemini. This move marked Google’s formal reentry into the conversational AI race.
Since then, Google has poured resources into integrating generative AI across its products, from search to cloud to productivity tools. That evolution reflects a strategic pivot rather than a knee-jerk reaction.
The internal alarm at Google catalysed a sustained reorientation of priorities. Teams and projects were repurposed; the mission to embed AI more aggressively into core services gained renewed momentum. The company is now operating in what Pichai describes as a new AI era.
Sundar Pichai’s reflections expose the tension between readiness and timing in tech leadership. Google may have had the building blocks for conversational AI, but it dared not ship a product it considered unpolished. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s move to launch ChatGPT seized the public’s imagination — and reshaped competitive dynamics.
In hindsight, the story is not just about who was first, but who adapts fastest. Google’s internal pivot and recommitment to AI underline that in this new era, being cautious is no longer sufficient — speed, trust, and strategic recalibration must coexist.
The real lesson: in generative AI’s unfolding narrative, having capabilities is just step one. Executing them at the right moment — and sustaining that pace — will define who leads the next chapter.