AI Race Heats Up! Google Co-Founder Brin Takes Direct Control as DeepMind Reorganizes to Accelerate Gemini

According to foreign media citing informed sources, Alphabet, Google's parent company, is striving to close the gap with competitors in AI, as co-founder Sergey Brin has recently urged key AI teams to fully focus on developing the Gemini model.

One anonymous insider revealed that in April, when Anthropic gained an edge with the powerful preview version of its Claude Mythos model, Brin addressed a large internal meeting attended by hundreds of employees, calling on DeepMind’s AI lab to speed up development.

Last November, the Gemini model briefly surpassed its rivals, but subsequent new model releases from Anthropic and OpenAI have once again placed Google in catch-up mode.

Two sources indicated that by August this year, internal testing showed Gemini still lagging behind competitors in areas such as code generation, leading Google to delay the launch of its next-generation flagship Gemini model by two months.

On Wednesday last week (5th), Google announced a comprehensive restructuring of DeepMind’s AI division leadership. Demis Hassabis, head of the division, stepped down from his operational role, with his deputy Koray Kavukcuoglu taking over as CEO. Hassabis will transition to chairman, with reduced management responsibilities. Simultaneously, the two original technical co-leads of Gemini resigned to co-found a new startup.

While some industry observers have questioned whether Google is stepping back from the large model race, interviews with seven individuals familiar with Gemini’s development reveal that Alphabet’s commercialization strategy and last week’s personnel changes are closely tied to efforts to seize leadership in the AI model space.