As the year 2024 draws to a close, Google has just revealed its major ambitions for 2025 during an internal strategic meeting. The tech giant plans to make Gemini, its AI model, its top priority for the coming year, with potential implications for the entire tech sector as the Mountain View firm comes under attack from all sides.
An ever accelerating AI race
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, clearly stated his ambitions: “The deployment of Gemini on the consumer side will be our biggest priority next year.” The company predicts that the Gemini application will join the very closed circle of Google applications with more than 500 million monthly users. To put that into perspective, Google Maps just hit 2 billion monthly users, joining Search, Gmail, Android, Chrome, Play, and YouTube.
Faced with competition from OpenAI and its ChatGPT, Pichai recognizes that Google was not the first in this market, but remains confident:
In history, you don’t always have to be first, but you have to execute well and truly be the best in your class. This is the challenge of 2025.
A universal assistant in development
Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, revealed ambitious plans to turn Gemini into a true universal assistant. Project Astra, which will be updated in the first half of 2025, aims to create an assistant “capable of operating seamlessly across any domain, modality or device.”
Unlike OpenAI which offers a Pro subscription at $200 per month, Google is not currently planning to follow this path. The company maintains its Gemini Advanced offer at $20 per month, deeming it more accessible and competitive.
Major challenges to overcome
This offensive in AI comes in a delicate context for Google, which faces increased regulatory scrutiny around the world. The company must notably manage antitrust trials concerning its monopoly in search and its Chrome browser. The Search part is also threatened, with falling revenues and very strong regulatory pressure.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of GoogleFor users of iPhone and other Apple devices, these developments could have significant implications, particularly in how they interact with Google services through their devices. While Apple is also developing its own AI capabilities, competition between these technology giants promises to be particularly intense in 2025. Especially since Gemini could be integrated into Apple Intelligence as early as 2025.
The presentation also included promising demos, including Jules (a coding assistant), NotebookLM (an AI-enhanced note-taking tool), and Project Mariner, a Chrome extension for multitasking using ‘AI.
Finally, Sundar Pichai recalled that 2025 was the year of all dangers and that expectations were high. Google is certainly the big tech that will make the most changes next year, and it could be exciting.
