Pichai oversaw a smooth transition from search dominance to AI mastery. By Jack Hough
When the public met OpenAI's ChatGPT in November 2022, Alphabet's stock had been sliding for a year. Why click on Google search links when a bot can give you an answer in seconds? Since then, Alphabet's shares are up 270%, triple the S&P 500's return. Revenue and profits are soaring.
The explanation goes a lot deeper than those AI overviews that now appear atop Google search results. CEO Sundar Pichai, 54, has transformed Alphabet from a search-first company with interesting side ventures to a full-stack AI powerhouse. It started with streamlining. Pichai consolidated AI research divisions and product teams for Chrome, Android, Pixel, and the like. The outcome, barely a year after ChatGPT's debut, was Gemini, and a push to integrate it deeply into company products with as little bureaucracy as possible.
Meanwhile, layoffs and a recent stock offering have helped fund massive investments in custom computing power, data centers, and top AI talent. Today, the answer to why use Gemini is most likely that it is embedded in some of your favorite apps. Alphabet has shored up its advertising dominance while setting a new path as a top AI merchant.
Write to Jack Hough at jack.hough@barrons.com and subscribe to his Barron's Streetwise podcast.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 19, 2026 21:31 ET (01:31 GMT)
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