Google Labs chief on Gemini product bets and why benchmarks are overhyped
In an interview on Lenny's Podcast, Josh Woodward — a 17-year Google veteran who oversees Google Labs, the Gemini app and AI Studio — described how his teams hunt for product opportunities by keeping an "almost possible" list and writing down 82 predictions about the future, then forming small teams the moment a capability crosses the feasibility threshold. He said the main early signal for whether a prototype is worth backing is user reaction, such as eyes lighting up and leaning in, and that teams usually know before leadership when a project is not working — so he encourages people to raise bad news and even stop an underperforming feature before launch; he cited a Gemini feature the team recently decided not to ship after seeing early data and user feedback. He also called model benchmarks overhyped and said Gemini is moving toward "personal intelligence," with some of those capabilities coming soon.
For AI product builders, it is a candid account from inside a major lab: technical feasibility is not the same as product-market fit, and calling something off can be the right call.