Google Gemini Boss Describes Working with Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin

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According to Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have been actively driving a resurgence that has placed the $3.9 trillion tech titan back on offense. Hassabis revealed that Brin has been "in the weeds, programming" on recent projects, particularly the Gemini models, while Page is getting involved in more strategic ways. This hands-on return has "been fantastic" for Hassabis to see, helping push the company's technical boundaries and ensuring the necessary resources are deployed to train massive frontier models.

Why it matters

This renewed founder intensity coincides with a massive structural shift: the merger of the Google Brain and DeepMind research units. The consolidation was driven by a wake-up call in 2023 following the explosive release of OpenAI's ChatGPT, as Google needed to pool its talent and computing power to compete in the age of scaling laws.

The details

Hassabis, who now leads the combined entity, described Google DeepMind as the 'engine room' of the company—a 'nuclear power plant' plugged into Google's vast ecosystem of Search, YouTube, and Chrome. The strategy appears to be working, as Alphabet saw its shares skyrocket approximately 65% by the end of 2025, driven by the release of Gemini 3 and a viral image generation model known as 'Nano Banana'.

• In late 2019, Brin stepped back from a day-to-day role at Google, just before the pandemic hit.
• In 2023, the Googleplex reopened for employees, and Brin started showing up for work three to four times per week.
• By February 2025, Brin had issued an internal memo advising Google employees to visit Mountain View at least five times a week, with 60-hour weeks hitting the 'sweet spot' of productivity.

What they’re saying

What’s next

Hassabis predicted that the second Google golden age will help unlock, in 10 to 15 years, a world of 'radical abundance' through the use of AI to solve the energy crisis and revolutionize human health.