Google’s Gemini AI assistant reaches one billion users

Google's artificial intelligence assistant Gemini has achieved a major milestone, reaching one billion monthly users, CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Tuesday. The accomplishment marks the company's fastest growing product to date, and the 14th product of Google to hit the billion-user mark. Pichai shared the news on social media, highlighting the milestone as a victory for Google amidst a significant restructuring of its AI division.

The achievement comes as Google wrestles with a series of departures from its DeepMind lab, which designs the Gemini models. Demis Hassabis, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, recently stepped away from the day-to-day management of DeepMind. Additionally, key researchers like Jeff Dean, a long-time engineering force within the group, also left the organization.

While Google's flagship model, Gemini 3.5 Pro, has yet to make its debut, the company continues to integrate AI into its ecosystem of products, including search, Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube. Google's strength lies in its massive user base, which it leverages to embed AI capabilities across its services.

Despite Google's efforts, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has also reached the one billion user mark across all its interfaces. Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT quickly built a user base from scratch in just four years. The San Francisco-based AI lab's success has propelled it into the race for an eventual IPO, with valuation dependent on audience metrics.

As the AI landscape becomes more competitive, other players such as China's DeepSeek and Anthropic, which develops Claude, are vying for market share. According to research firm Sensor Tower, ChatGPT's market share for AI assistants dropped below 50 percent in the first half of the year, indicating increased competition.