Sundar Pichai on ChatGPT: OpenAI Shifted The AI Window, Google Needs to Catch Up

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai candidly addressed how OpenAI's ChatGPT upended Google's AI dominance during a session at Salesforce's Dreamforce Conference on October 16, 2025, crediting the 2022 launch for reshaping the tech giant's approach to artificial intelligence. Moderated by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who hailed Google as the pre-ChatGPT "absolute leader in AI", Pichai described the event as a pivotal "code red" moment that accelerated internal efforts while emphasising OpenAI's role in democratising generative AI. The discussion, part of broader reflections on innovation and disruption, highlighted Google's cautious rollout strategy versus OpenAI's bold debut, which garnered over one million users in its first week and pressured incumbents to rethink deployment timelines.

Pichai acknowledged that OpenAI "deserved credit" for launching ChatGPT first in November 2022, a move backed by Microsoft that exposed Google's unreadiness. Internally, Google's own chatbot prototype faced hurdles in meeting rigorous quality standards, delaying its release by months and amplifying reputational risks for the search behemoth. "We were working on our chatbot, but it wasn't ready," Pichai said, noting a redirection of teams to fast-track development.

He likened the episode to past disruptions, such as YouTube's 2006 emergence during Google's video search experiments or Instagram's photo-sharing ascent, both eventually acquired by Google. Far from panic, Pichai viewed ChatGPT as an exciting inflection point, stating it "shifted the window for AI" and altered how Google perceived the technology's immediacy and potential.

The launch prompted a seismic internal response at Google, triggering a "code red" that mobilised resources toward AI infrastructure, including custom chips like TPUs and large-scale models. By March 2023, Google unveiled Bard—later rebranded as Gemini—as its conversational AI counterpart, integrating it into Search and Workspace tools to counter ChatGPT's viral appeal.

Pichai stressed that Google had long invested in foundational AI, with breakthroughs in natural language processing dating back to Transformer models in 2017, but ChatGPT's consumer-facing simplicity forced a pivot from research silos to rapid productisation. This urgency contributed to broader efficiency drives, including a 10% cut in managerial roles announced earlier in 2025, aimed at streamlining decision-making for faster innovation.

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Pichai's remarks underscore a humbler narrative for Google amid intensifying AI competition, where startups like OpenAI—valued at $157 billion post-2024 funding—challenge Big Tech's gatekeeping. As generative AI evolves, with applications in coding, content creation, and drug discovery, the exchange highlights the perils of perfectionism versus agility in tech. On X, reactions praised Pichai's candour, with users like @AIWatch noting it as a "masterclass in graceful pivots", while others critiqued Google's initial lag.

The Dreamforce dialogue reaffirms AI's transformative ethos, urging leaders to embrace disruptions as catalysts for renewal in an era where first-mover advantages redefine industries.

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