At Salesforce's annual technology event, Google CEO Sundar Pichai frankly shared his feelings of being overwhelmed by OpenAI, a small-name startup that suddenly launched ChatGPT in 2022 and took full global attention.
Responding to salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's question about Google's reaction to letting a small company (at that time) in San Francisco take the lead, Pichai said: "We have made a lot of progress in AI development, and are also building an internal chatbot version, but perhaps OpenAI has been launched a few months before us."
In 2022, OpenAI, led by Sam altman and backed by Microsoft, launched ChatGPT, opening a new era of artificial intelligence.
The success of this product has forced Google to issue internal red codes, requiring teams of engineers to focus resources on commercial AI prototypes and products to respond.
Pichai admitted that Google had considered launching its own chatbot at that time, but the company decided to wait.
We cant release it as the product still has many problems. Google has a greater reputation risk and needs to ensure quality and reliability before launching, said Mr. Sundar Pichai.
According to Google's CEO, the company has invested heavily in researching, developing AI chips and expanding infrastructure to serve artificial intelligence projects.
Part of this strategy is the new AI hub in India, which he described as the largest investment outside the US, with 80% of operational energy coming from clean energy via underground cables.
Also at the event, Sundar Pichai revealed that the next version of the Gemini model, Gemini 3.0, will be launched later this year.
Although there is much speculation that Google will introduce this model in the next few days, the company has not yet announced the official time.
Observers say Google's recognition of being slow compared to OpenAI shows a change in the technology giant's approach.
If Google was always slow and steady to protect its brand before, they are now accelerating significantly in the AI race to restore their leading position.
