Google’s power struggles are killing its AI mojo

When managers focus on launches and neglect maintenance, products suffer

    • Google CEO Sundar Pichai needs to have a broader, fundamental rethink of the sprawling company’s incentive and management structures.
    • Google CEO Sundar Pichai needs to have a broader, fundamental rethink of the sprawling company’s incentive and management structures. PHOTO: REUTERS
    Published Wed, Jul 1, 2026 · 04:20 PM

    WITH the artificial intelligence race moving so rapidly, even a momentary lag can be costly.

    Alphabet’s Google is learning this the hard way: The search giant rapidly caught up with OpenAI and Anthropic last year when it released Gemini 3, an AI model that surpassed key rivals on many benchmarks.

    Now, it is slipping behind on AI coding.