Google was at risk of losing its dominance — until it promoted this AI executive

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Josh Woodward may not be a household name in Silicon Valley. But inside Google

, everybody knows about him.

The 42-year-old Oklahoma native, who started at Google by way of a product management internship in 2009, has spent the past eight months running the Gemini app, the centerpiece of the search giant’s artificial intelligence strategy.

Heading into 2026, Woodward’s work is more critical than ever as Google rushes to keep pace with its high-powered AI rivals, namely OpenAI, which kickstarted the generative AI boom with the launch of ChatGPT just over three years ago.