Geoffrey Hinton, a prominent AI researcher commonly known as the ‘godfather of AI’, has lately asserted that Google is poised to outpace competitor OpenAI in the AI competition.
In a recent interview with Business Insider, Hinton expressed his astonishment at the length of time it took Google, his former employer, to reach parity. He referenced Google’s recent launch of the Gemini 3 model and the Nano Banana Pro image generator as elements that have altered momentum.
Hinton remarked in the interview with Business Insider that Google possesses considerable advantages, such as a substantial team of researchers, extensive data resources, and proprietary AI processors, which he described as a “significant advantage.”
He proposed that Google, the originator of critical AI technologies such as the Transformer, has historically exhibited greater caution than its competitors. Hinton stated that the corporation was apprehensive about safeguarding its brand following catastrophic AI launches by other organizations, a sentiment echoed by CEO Sundar Pichai in prior remarks. This prudence already resulted in several defective product launches, including an AI picture generator that was halted last year for producing wrong historical photographs.
Hinton’s comments arise amid claims of internal apprehension at OpenAI about Google’s advancements, contrasting with three years earlier, when Google announced a “code red” in response to the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Hinton left Google in 2023 to raise concerns about AI threats and was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2024, according to a Business Insider story.
In other news, Google has pledged a $10 million CAD grant to establish a chair in AI at the University of Toronto in honor of Hinton, which the university will match.
