Gemini App Gets New Boss As It Enters ‘chapter 2’

Google is replacing the executive in charge of the consumer-facing Gemini app since its inception, with the new boss a familiar face.

According to Semafor, Sissie Hsiao (left, above) is leaving her role as Vice President and General Manager, Gemini app and Speech. She has been at Google since 2006 working on Search, Docs, Analytics, and Advertising before taking on Google Assistant in 2021 and then Gemini. 

Hsiao will remain at the company and take on a new role in the near future. In December of 2022, she was given a hundred days to build Bard as detailed in a recent Wired profile. In a memo, Hsiao describes that period until today as “chapter 1” and what’s next as “chapter 2”:

Hsiao, in a separate staff memo, called her time as head of the team “chapter 1″ of the Bard story, and said she was optimistic in handing the baton to Woodward for “chapter 2.” Hsiao plans to take a “short break” and return to Google in a new role.

In October of 2024, the Gemini app was moved from Knowledge & Information (or the Search, Maps, etc. division) to Google DeepMind. At the time, CEO Sundar Pichai said this will “improve feedback loops, enable fast deployment of our new models in the Gemini app, make our post-training work proceed more efficiently and build on our great product momentum. “

Josh Woodward (right, above) is taking over Hsiao’s role, while remaining VP of Google Labs, which is responsible for NotebookLM, the Project Mariner browser agent, and other experimental AI products.

This March, the Project Astra product team was moved from DeepMind’s broader research arm to the Gemini app division. Those two teams have been working together from the start, and this move will accelerate product development. Meanwhile, the Gemini app got a new Vice President of Product. This was a hire from Meta that has a track record of shipping products. 

Google DeepMind boss Demis Hassabis said today’s change will “sharpen our focus on the next evolution of the Gemini app.” Specifically:

By placing Woodward in charge of Gemini, Hassabis is hoping he will help capitalize on the company’s research prowess by finding ways to wrap user-friendly products around sophisticated models.

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