SAN FRANCISCO (Realist English). Josh Woodward has emerged as one of the most influential executives inside Google, as the company accelerates its push to stay competitive in the fast-moving artificial intelligence market.
Woodward, 42, has spent the past eight months leading the Gemini app — the centerpiece of Google’s generative AI strategy — while simultaneously running Google Labs, the company’s experimental AI unit. His role has taken on heightened importance as Google prepares for 2026 amid growing competition from OpenAI, which reshaped consumer behavior with the launch of ChatGPT.
As AI-powered assistants increasingly challenge traditional internet search, Google is racing to ensure users remain within its ecosystem for chat, images, video and shopping. Woodward is helping drive that effort, overseeing rapid product launches and integrating new AI features across Google services.
His rise comes after a turbulent period for Google’s parent company, Alphabet, which faced investor concerns earlier this year over whether AI rivals could weaken Google’s long-standing position as the web’s primary gateway. Momentum has since shifted. The Gemini app surged in popularity following the rollout of new image-generation tools, briefly straining Google’s infrastructure, and later overtook ChatGPT in Apple’s App Store rankings.
Google says Gemini’s monthly active users have climbed to around 650 million, up sharply from earlier this year, as Alphabet pours tens of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure, including data centres and custom chips.
Inside the company, Woodward is known for cutting through bureaucracy, pushing teams to move faster and responding directly to user feedback. Colleagues say he also places strong emphasis on trust and the societal risks tied to powerful AI systems, a growing concern as synthetic images, video and text become harder to distinguish from reality.
Senior leadership has signalled confidence in the strategy. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees that the company is shipping new AI features at an unprecedented pace, with Gemini at the core of that push.
As competition in generative AI intensifies, Woodward’s ability to balance speed, innovation and public trust is increasingly seen as central to whether Google can maintain its dominance in the next phase of the AI era.
