Google AI chatbot Gemini head Sissie Hsiao steps down effective immediately; read Google DeepMind CEO memo to employees

Google is replacing the head of its consumer AI applications division, Semafor reported after reviewing internal memos. The move comes as the artificial intelligence race increasingly centers on the products built using AI models, rather than the underlying technology itself. Sissie Hsiao, who headed Google's development of its AI chatbot, initially named Bard and now known as Gemini, is stepping down with immediate effect. Her successor will be Josh Woodward, the current leader of Google Labs, who oversaw the successful launch of NotebookLM, a popular tool that converts text into a podcast-like format.

Hsiao, a long-standing Google employee of 19 years, took a leading role in the company's rapid response to the emergence of ChatGPT, which significantly disrupted the technology sector and compelled Google to accelerate the public release of its internally developed AI technology.

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabi memo to employees on new Gemini head
In a memo to employees, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis stated that this leadership change aims to "sharpen our focus on the next evolution of the Gemini app." He confirmed that Woodward will retain his responsibilities as head of Google Labs while guiding the future direction of Gemini.

What Sissie Hsiao said on stepping down
Hsiao described her tenure leading the team as "chapter 1" of the Bard/Gemini story in her own memo to staff, expressing optimism as she hands over leadership to Woodward for "chapter 2." She indicated plans to take a "short break" before returning to Google in a different capacity.

Goole Gemini's slow start to 'impressive growth'
Despite Google's researchers being pioneers of the transformer-based architecture that enabled the creation of large language models powering tools like ChatGPT, the unpredictable nature of these models initially led the company to maintain a cautious approach to its chatbot experiments.

The urgency of the competitive landscape led to early missteps. The launch of Bard faced criticism for generating inaccurate information ("hallucinations"), and its Gemini image creation tool drew backlash, particularly from conservatives, for producing unintended and controversial results, such as depicting women or people of color in historical contexts where it was deemed inappropriate (e.g., as Vikings, Nazis, or the Pope).

However, Google has since made significant progress with successful product launches. Notably, last week, Gemini 2.5 outperformed competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic in AI benchmark tests and achieved the top ranking in Chatbot Arena, a platform where users vote on their preferred large language model responses.