Inside Google, Josh Woodward shapes the AI race

Josh Woodward may not be well known outside the tech world, but inside Google, he plays a vital role in the company’s AI push. 

Woodward joined Google in 2009 as a product management intern and steadily rose through the ranks. He currently leads the Gemini app, Google’s flagship artificial intelligence product, while also heading Google Labs, the division responsible for experimental AI projects.

His role became crucial as Google faced growing competition from AI rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which changed how people search for information online. At Google, he is known for AI products, like the Nano Banana Pro image generator and NotebookLM.

The Nano Banana Pro image generator became so popular that it briefly overwhelmed Google’s servers.

By September, Gemini had surpassed 5 billion generated images and had overtaken ChatGPT on Apple’s App Store. Monthly active users jumped to 650 million by October, while AI Overviews reached 2 billion. Wall Street responded, sending Alphabet shares up 62% this year.

Balancing speed and responsibility
Colleagues say Woodward moves fast but takes user trust and AI’s social impact seriously. As Google looks toward 2026, his leadership stands at the heart of the company’s AI comeback.