According to CNBC, Google has placed 42-year-old Aakash Woodward, an Oklahoma native who started as a product management intern in 2009, in a pivotal role running its Gemini AI app. This move comes as the company rushes to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI, which launched ChatGPT just over three years ago, and as experts forecast a major shift from traditional search to AI apps by 2026. Woodward, who has spent the last eight months on Gemini, is also keeping his job as head of Google Labs, the home for experimental AI projects. Former Google Labs co-lead Clay Bavor says Woodward’s speed and execution have landed him “at the center of the most important work at Google.” The pressure is on to keep users within Google’s ecosystem for everything from chatbots to shopping without losing user trust, a challenge underscored by interviews with more than a dozen colleagues.
The Speed and Trust Tightrope
Here’s the thing: Google‘s entire empire was built on being the reliable, trustworthy gateway to the internet. Now, it’s being forced to move at a breakneck startup pace, and those two mandates—speed and trust—often clash. Woodward is reportedly serious about AI’s societal concerns, which is good. But let’s be real. When you’re in a race against a competitor like OpenAI that operates with different cultural and regulatory guardrails, the temptation to cut corners on safety or data sourcing to ship features is immense. Can you genuinely “move fast and break down barriers” while also being the cautious, responsible steward of global information? I’m skeptical. Google’s historical failures in social and messaging show that a “fast follower” strategy with a giant’s bureaucracy doesn’t always work.
More Than Just a Chatbot War
This isn’t just about building a better chatbot than ChatGPT. The real fight, which CNBC hints at, is about the entire consumer journey. Google needs to make sure that when you think of getting answers, creating images, or even shopping online, you never feel the need to leave its apps. They’re fighting against a fragmentation of their own service. Think about it: if you start using an AI agent for travel planning that isn’t Google, that’s a direct hit to its search and ads business. Woodward’s dual role is telling—he’s managing the present-day product (Gemini) while also overseeing the moonshots in Labs. That’s a huge burden. It basically means he’s responsible for both Google’s AI defense and its offense, simultaneously.
The Intern Who Now Carries the Company
There’s a symbolic weight to an intern from 2009 rising to carry Google’s future. It speaks to an internal culture trying to rediscover its innovative roots. But it also highlights a potential risk: is this too much pressure on one person? The article notes the “pressure he faces to help Google stay ahead,” and that’s putting it mildly. The entire transition of a trillion-dollar business model is, in part, being routed through his teams. And what happens if Gemini stumbles, or the next big AI shift comes from somewhere else? It’s a brutal position. Colleagues praise his execution, but execution only matters if you’re executing on the right vision. The next few years will show if Woodward’s Google can define the AI era, or if it’s just permanently playing catch-up.
