Google’s Gemini chief details collaboration with founders Page and Brin to secure AI leadership

Until recently, Google was in danger of being perceived as a dormant behemoth, relying on its immense scale while nimble rivals surged forward in the AI competition. However, Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind, states that this perception is now obsolete.

In a discussion with editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell on the podcast, Hassabis confirmed that accounts of significant involvement by Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are accurate. Their active participation is fueling a revival that has returned the $3.9 trillion technology leader to an aggressive stance. Hassabis asserts this marks the beginning of a fresh “golden era” characterized by rapid innovation and product development.

“Sergey has been deeply involved in the programming details,” Hassabis informed about Brin’s work on recent initiatives, especially the highly acclaimed Gemini models. Hassabis noted that Page is also contributing, focusing on more strategic aspects. Witnessing this direct return to operations has “been fantastic,” according to Hassabis, as it helps advance the company’s technological limits and secures the resources required for training large-scale frontier AI models.

Brin previously discussed at Stanford University’s School of Engineering centennial event how he reduced his daily involvement in late 2019, shortly before the pandemic. He admitted to feeling adrift despite his wealth and found himself returning to the office when the Googleplex reopened in 2023. The Wall Street Journal reported then that Brin was coming in three to four days weekly. By February 2025, he had circulated an internal note suggesting Google staff be onsite in Mountain View at least five days a week, proposing that 60-hour workweeks represented the productivity “sweet spot.”

Getting back to a ‘shipping culture’

This reinvigorated focus from the founders aligns with a major organizational change: the integration of the Google Brain and DeepMind research teams. Hassabis, now heading the unified group, likened Google DeepMind to the company’s “engine room”—a “nuclear power plant” integrated into Google’s extensive network of Search, , and Chrome.

This merger was prompted by what Hassabis recognized as a pivotal moment: 2023, after the dramatic launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. To contend in an era defined by scaling laws, Google had to combine its expertise and, vitally, its computational resources. “Even an organization like Google lacked sufficient computing capacity to support two separate frontier projects within one company,” Hassabis clarified.

“We possessed two elite teams in the original DeepMind and Google Brain,” he stated, remarking that Google does not receive adequate recognition for the reality that roughly 90% of today’s AI sector is founded on technology or innovations from these units. He emphasized that while Google has “exceptional talent … significantly superior to any other globally,” managing two distinct groups was becoming “complicated, particularly considering the vast compute requirements.”

The approach seems effective. After the reorganization, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, experienced a share price surge of about 65% by late 2025, propelled by the launch of Gemini 3 and a popular image-generation tool called “Nano Banana.” Hassabis declared the company has passed a “watershed moment” with these advanced models, which are now sufficiently powerful to aid in sophisticated research and coding tasks.

Hassabis frames this phase as a return to Google’s foundational principles, which makes the operational comeback of Page and Brin especially appropriate. The objective was to revive the “shipping culture” from a decade or more ago—embracing “calculated risks” and operating swiftly. Hassabis expressed his belief that the firm is recapturing “the golden era of Google” by taking those measured risks, releasing products rapidly, and fostering innovation. The emphasis is also on being deliberate, scientific, and meticulous about the products it launches, in both engineering and scientific domains. “We’ve truly found our rhythm,” Hassabis commented. “And I believe others and the wider world are beginning to sense that.”

Beyond the financial performance, Hassabis regards this corporate renewal as a precursor to a more extensive scientific revolution. He forecasts that this emerging second golden age for Google will, within 10 to 15 years, help realize a state of “radical abundance.” His outlook involves employing AI to address the energy crisis via fusion or solar advances, transforming healthcare so profoundly that “medicine will be unrecognizable compared to today,” and ultimately leveraging those capabilities to “explore the stars.”

In the near term, though, attention stays on the “classic innovator’s dilemma”: proactively overhauling their own primary business before a rival does. With the founders actively engaged and a consolidated AI unit providing momentum, Hassabis believes Google is no longer merely responding to the future but actively shaping it. “If we fail to disrupt our own operations, another entity will,” Hassabis said. “It is preferable … to execute this transition on our own conditions.”

Watch the full episode . The interview transcript .