Google was at risk of losing dominance until promoting Josh Woodward

Josh Woodward may not be a household name in Silicon Valley. But inside Google, everybody knows about him.

The 42-year-old Oklahoma native, who started at Google by way of a product management internship in 2009, has spent the past eight months running the Gemini app, the centerpiece of the search giant’s artificial intelligence strategy. 

Heading into 2026, Woodward’s work is more critical than ever as Google rushes to keep pace with its high-powered AI rivals, namely OpenAI, which kickstarted the generative AI boom with the launch of ChatGPT just over three years ago. 

As industry experts forecast a shift in consumer behavior from traditional search to AI-powered apps, Google is fighting to make sure users stay within its ecosystem, whether it’s for chatbot services, images, videos or online shopping. Woodward is helping to spearhead that effort while also keeping his job as head of Google Labs, home to the company’s experimental AI projects.

Clay Bavor, former co-lead of Google Labs, said Woodward’s ability to move fast, break down barriers and execute “has landed him right at the center of the most important work at Google.”

CNBC spoke with more than a dozen people who have worked with Woodward about his evolving profile at Google, how he got there and the pressure he faces to help Google stay ahead of the competition without losing the trust of users. Several current and former colleagues, including some who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak to the press, emphasized how seriously Woodward takes the societal concerns that come with the power of AI, and about Google’s role in shaping the future.

In April, when Woodward was promoted to run the Gemini app, Google’s position in AI was tenuous. Alphabet shares plunged 18% in the first quarter, their worst performance for any period since 2022, and concerns were building that the company was losing its long-held position as the internet’s front door.

Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind and the person considered the top AI executive at Google, said in the memo announcing the move that Woodward would be focused on the “next evolution” of the app, according to a Semafor report.

A major turning point for Woodward’s group came in late August, with the launch of image generator Nano Banana, a Gemini feature that lets users blend multiple photos together to create personal digitized figurines.

Within days, Nano Banana had become so popular it was overloading the company’s infrastructure, forcing Google to place temporary limits on usage to ease the burden on its custom-designed chips called tensor processing units.

“Our TPUs almost melted,” said Amin Vahdat, Google’s head of AI infrastructure, at a November all-hands meeting, according to audio reviewed by CNBC.

By the end of September,…