Google’s Gemini 3 Triumph Leaves Teams Exhausted, Says Sundar Pichai

After an intense few weeks leading up to one of its biggest AI releases, Google is taking a moment to breathe. CEO Sundar Pichai has acknowledged the tremendous pressure his teams faced during the rollout of Gemini 3, the company’s most powerful artificial intelligence model to date. Speaking on the “Google AI: Release Notes” podcast, Pichai joked that the engineers behind the breakthrough urgently need downtime. “I think some folks need some sleep,” he laughed, adding, “Hopefully we all get a bit of rest.”

His comments follow a milestone week for Google. The debut of Gemini 3 not only reignited the global AI race but also delivered a major boost to the company’s stock. With shares up nearly 70 percent this year—and a notable 12 percent jump immediately after the model’s unveiling—Google’s market valuation is now closing in on an extraordinary $4 trillion.

A Major Turning Point in the AI Race

For Google, Gemini 3 represents more than a product release—it marks a return to prominence in a field where rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic have grown increasingly competitive. Early reactions from industry leaders highlight the magnitude of the upgrade. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff went as far as calling Gemini 3 an “insane” leap, declaring that after spending two hours with the new model, he’s “not going back” to ChatGPT.

The enthusiastic response has revived conversations around whether Google has reclaimed the AI leadership it once held before the surge of generative AI tools in 2022. But for Pichai, this moment has been years in the making.

A Decade-Long Strategy Comes Together

Pichai reiterated that Google’s AI-first vision began nearly ten years ago. “In 2016, I wanted the whole company to be AI-first,” he said, emphasising that today’s achievements are the result of long-term planning rather than sudden leaps.

That foundation includes the early days of Google Brain in 2012, DeepMind’s acquisition in 2014, and the development of tensor processing units (TPUs) that now power the company’s largest models. “It was clear to me in 2016, seeing all that, we were about to go through another platform shift,” Pichai said. “That was a full-stack bet on setting up Google to be an AI-first company.”

Although critics sometimes accused Google of losing momentum, Pichai insists the company was quietly building capabilities behind the scenes. “If you were on the outside, it would look like we were quiet or we were behind, but we were putting all the building blocks in place,” he explained.

Full-Stack Innovation Pays Off

Google’s approach relied on strengthening every level of the AI pipeline—from infrastructure and training systems to pre-training, post-training, and test-time compute. According to Pichai, this deep, layered groundwork took time but was essential for tackling the demands of generative AI. “When we first tried to meet the generative AI moment, we were short on capacity,” he admitted. The company had to massively expand its technical capabilities before scaling Gemini to its current form.

The merger of Google Brain and DeepMind further accelerated innovation, pushing Gemini 3 across the finish line faster than earlier models. With the launch now complete, Pichai says Google has reached a turning point. “We’re on the other side now,” he stated confidently.

For the engineers who powered Gemini 3’s rapid development, some well-deserved rest is finally on the horizon—even if only for a moment. Because as Pichai’s comments suggest, Google’s renewed AI sprint is only just beginning.