How Google’s Gemini Could Become The Default Generative AI For Billions Globally.
Earlier this evening I watched the Made By Google event on YouTube where they launched the new Pixel smartphones, watches and buds. This was to be expected as the devices and how they looked had been leaked ages ago but we learned so much more about how they would work in the ‘Gemini Era’.
Let’s be honest — the whole Generative AI hype machine is feeling a little bit tired at the stage as everything seems to want to have some flavour of AI built into it to make it the ‘new new thing’. It seems that every big and small tech player globally is obsessed with getting Generative AI to beat the heart of everything they do, even if it isn't logical — just add Generative AI is being seen as a winning formula.
Perhaps the reason this is happening is because trillion dollar companies like NVIDIA are making billions selling expensive and highly performative GPUs to run AI workloads in data centers owned by major cloud providers like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and other large global enterprises. Massive amounts of money and talent are being deployed to make Generative AI work for all in nearly every context. In many ways, its starting to feel like the ‘dotcom bubble’ of a few decades ago, just before it burst.
So, I felt compelled to write this blog post because for some reason, watching the Made By Google event this evening, reminded me of something similar that happened almost 30 years ago at the start of the Internet as we know it today. At the time, there was a company called Sun Microsystems that made the servers that ran much of the network that made the Internet. During that period, if a newly funded Internet startup or successful enterprise wanted to ‘go online’, they turned to Sun Microsystems to buy their very expensive and very good servers.
Sun Microsystems essentially built out lots of the Internet infrastructure at the time for and as such it was an extremely successful business, almost like how NVIDIA is crushing it in the Generative AI era. On this basis, I remember they had a marketing campaign that aptly stated, ‘the network is the computer’. I remember seeing that campaign and indeed the key insight was that as everyone connected to the Internet for work, play, and everything in between, it was the network of networks that Sun Microsystems helped make possible.
Fast forward to 2024 and I can’t help but see the genius in what Google shared today in their event. You see, what I saw today was quite reminiscent to Sun Microsystems’ the network is the computer campaign. Google, or rather Alphabet, is an incredible technology-first organization that started off being a search engine and has over around 30 years morphed and pivoted into a multifaceted and fully integrated technology ecosystem.
At the heart of everything that Google does is that they are able to leverage the latest and best technologies with some of the smartest talent on the planet to create products and services that we all use everyday to get things done. Its as simple as that. Google has essentially become a utility of sorts for a big portion of humanity. Whether its affordable Android smartphones used by billions, free email on Gmail, free Search on Google Search or Google Maps to get around the world, Google’s technology ecosystem is as formidable as its widespread.
In the Generative AI era, it seemed almost hilarious that Google appeared to get caught flatfooted when OpenAI launched ChatGPT almost 2 years ago and essentially kickstarted the Generative AI revolution. Nothing could be further from the truth since Google’s own scientists actually created the transformer technology that underpins Generative AI’s large language models or LLMs that are currently proliferating rapidly across every technology platform. Given this history, it would seem silly to count out Google even if they got a slow start in launching Gemini after ChatGPT and have seemed to trail OpenAI to-date.
However, one thing to note is that Google’s ecosystem is vast and all encompassing in terms of what it has at its disposal to ultimately become the global Generative AI leader. Google’s ecosystem features a complete technology stack from devices all that way to data centres powering Generative AI in the form of Gemini. What this means is that as Google infuses all of its offerings with Gemini, billions of consumers and millions of organisations will automatically become their captive Generative AI users.
What does this mean for Google’s competitors in the Generative AI era? I hate to imagine what the implications could be for them as Google is able to use its network effects to become the de facto leader for Generative AI uptake via its Gemini offerings. This is not unlike how a couple of months ago Apple launched Apple Intelligence as its Generative AI proposition powered by a mix of internet and external platforms including ChatGPT. Apple has over a billion premium consumers using their products and services so it too will have Apple Intelligence available by default to them as well.
We have also seen from today’s Made by Google event that the latest Pixel devices feature on-device Generative AI capabilities via Gemini Nano as well as Gemini Live which is a conversational AI Agent that everyone can use via the cloud. This level of tight integration of Gemini across all of Google’s consumer and business offerings enables them to tap into their already massive ecosystem to deploy their Generative AI propositions, from LLM training to usage, in a nearly seamless manner. Never, ever, count out Google when their ecosystem could very well become everyones Generative AI computer!
