Google’s 15th annual I/O developer conference will kick off at 1 am Beijing time on Thursday in Mountain View, California. But this time, the pressure is on Google, as the search giant suddenly struggles to catch up in artificial intelligence (AI), a field it has long dominated.
For now, the hype surrounding new breakthroughs in AI has put Google on the defensive. Google has been forced to try to regain the initiative after established rivals Microsoft and upstarts such as OpenAI put new “generative” AI tools directly into the hands of customers. The conference was a chance for Google executives to prove to skeptical investors, competitors and their own employees that the company is still a leader in AI.
Google employees are under a lot of stress. The build-up to the conference has heightened tensions after Google’s boss ordered staff in December to redouble their AI efforts after OpenAI’s ChatGPT quickly became a global hit. Expectations for a blockbuster AI event have been tempered by Google’s cost-cutting efforts. In January, Google laid off 12,000 employees and cut some of its well-known benefits.
The convention was much smaller than in previous years. The three-day developer conference, which used to cover much of Google’s Mountain View, Calif., campus, has been shortened to just one day. Five current and former employees have revealed that this is the most stressful time they can remember working at Google. “It’s a different time at Google,” says one current employee. “There’s a lot of pressure.”
Showing off new technology to customers, media and investors is key for Google, as analysts and industry observers believe it botched the launch of its “Bard” chatbot in March. This follows OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT and Microsoft’s integration of ChatGPT in Bing. “Microsoft and OpenAI are now the ones everyone else is catching up to,” said Fred Havemeyer, analyst at Macquarie Group. “Google is catching up.”
“This is a vulnerable moment for Google in the AI arms race,” said Dan Ives, an equity analyst at Wedbush Securities. “The clock is ticking and it’s time for Google to reboot the AI engine.”