Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai used the company's second-quarter earnings to counter growing criticism that Google is losing momentum in the artificial intelligence race.Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai used the company's second-quarter earnings to counter growing criticism that Google is losing momentum in the artificial intelligence race. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo/File Photo (REUTERS)In the midst of intense competition from OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, and up-and-coming Chinese AI firms, investors attentively observed Google's AI strategy during Alphabet's most recent earnings report.Pichai stated that the company's investments are "redefining what's possible" across all of its companies, from Search and Google Cloud to YouTube and the Gemini AI platform, while highlighting the company's impressive financial success and quick adoption of AI.Also read: Google Was a Lifeline for Publishers. Now Some Are Thinking of Cutting It Off.Pichai highlights AI-led growth across GoogleIn a post on X after the earnings release, Pichai described the quarter as "amazing," saying AI investments are reshaping every part of Alphabet's business.He wrote, “Alphabet revenue grew 24% YoY and Google Cloud accelerated to 82% growth.” Pichai also highlighted momentum across Google's core consumer businesses, including Search, YouTube and the Gemini app.According to Pichai, the Gemini app has reached 950 million monthly active users. He also said Google's AI model APIs are now processing 22 billion tokens every minute, up from more than 16 billion during the previous quarter. Pichai stated that the increase was driven largely by the company's Gemini Flash models, designed for faster and lower-cost AI workloads.He added, “We’re also seeing great adoption of Gemini Enterprise, used by 90% of the Fortune 100, as well as strong demand for our security solutions.”He thanked employees and partners worldwide, calling it "an exciting moment" for the company.Also read: Sundar Pichai’s address, Amazon’s influence, and Meta being MetaGoogle defends its AI strategy amid competitionThe earnings update comes as Alphabet faces increasing scrutiny over its position in the rapidly evolving AI market.Investors have reportedly questioned whether Google has surrendered its technological lead after delaying the release of Gemini 3.5 Pro, which is a flagship model originally expected in June.Pichai, in his remarks on the earnings call, wrote, “Gemini 3.5 Pro is currently in testing. And our team is already building the next generation of models. We have started our most ambitious pre-training run yet, for Gemini 4, and are excited by the progress we are seeing at the frontier.”The delay sparked concerns that rivals had moved ahead in areas such as AI coding and advanced reasoning models. Addressing those concerns during the earnings call, Pichai defended Google's long-term AI strategy.He stated that evaluating AI leadership requires looking beyond individual model releases and considering the company's broader ecosystem, including infrastructure, developer platforms, enterprise adoption and consumer products.Google has increasingly integrated Gemini across its products, including Search, Workspace, Android and Cloud. The company has also continued expanding AI Overviews and AI-powered search features, positioning generative AI as a central part of its future search business.