People have been thinking if Google is falling behind in the AI race. That’s the big question circling tech right now, especially with OpenAI and Anthropic pushing out new models at a relentless pace. Sundar Pichai does not think so. He’s betting that Gemini 4 will flip the narrative.
Pichai says Gemini 4 will be a major leap
During Alphabet’s latest earnings call, Pichai sounded as confident as ever. He dismissed all the talk about Google losing ground, calling Gemini 4 one of the company’s boldest projects yet.
Google admits it trails rivals in AI coding
He told investors that they will be ‘pleased’ when they see what’s coming and hinted that this next version is a serious leap forward- bigger, smarter, more powerful, and ready to compete with any advanced AI model out there.
“We’re committed and confident about staying at the frontier,” he insisted, stressing that Gemini 4 is ambitious by any measure.
But Google is not winning every battle. Pichai admitted, pretty candidly, that rivals have the upper hand in certain areas, especially AI coding and agentic systems. “We’ve acknowledged we need to improve,” he said. Tools like Claude Code and OpenAI Codex have spread fast among developers and big companies—there’s no getting around that.
Gemini 3.5 Pro delay raises questions
It does not help that Gemini 3.5 Pro is taking longer than planned. Reports say the model did not hit Google’s expectations in coding and autonomous AI tasks. So, Google postponed the rollout. Instead, they used the earnings call to put the spotlight on other Gemini launches.
Google highlights Gemini Flash and enterprise AI
Pichai highlighted Gemini 3.6 Flash, which just launched. Google says it scores over ten points higher on coding benchmarks compared to the previous version, uses fewer output tokens (so it’s cheaper to run), and is built for enterprise AI, customer service, cybersecurity, and analytics. They also rolled out Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite (faster, cheaper) and Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber for specialised government and cybersecurity needs. Meanwhile, Gemini 3.5 Pro is still being tested with partners.
Gemini user base continues to grow
Even with all the scepticism, people keep using Gemini. Pichai shared fresh numbers – Gemini now has 950 million monthly active users, up from 750 million at the end of 2025. He said AI investments are paying off, driving growth right across Google’s products. The momentum, at least by the numbers, is real.
Google Cloud and AI business show strong growth
The rest of Alphabet’s results looked strong too, with AI and cloud playing a starring role. Google Cloud revenue jumped 82 per cent to USD 24.8 billion, backlog hit USD 514 billion, and overall profit soared to USD 112.1 billion (up from last year’s USD 28.1 billion).
Total revenue rose 24 per cent to USD 119.8 billion, and Google’s services business grew 15 per cent. Clearly, more enterprises are buying into Google’s AI infrastructure and cloud offerings.
Investors remain cautious
Even with that financial muscle, investors are still wary. They want to see Google take back the edge in AI coding and advanced problem-solving, not just keep pace. Alphabet’s capital spending on AI could hit up to USD 205 billion a year, but money alone will not calm nerves—especially when OpenAI, Anthropic, and others are still capturing headlines.
Maybe Gemini 4 changes the story, but for now, people are watching carefully. After the earnings call, Alphabet’s shares dipped more than 3 per cent in after-hours trading, showing that big questions still loom over Google’s role in this new AI era.
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