Google Surges Ahead in AI: Veo Video Tool, Gemini Model, and Custom Chips Redefine the Race

Google’s Multi-Front AI Offensive: Setting New Industry Standards

In late 2025, the landscape of artificial intelligence shifted dramatically. Google, once seen as trailing behind OpenAI and Nvidia, has now emerged as a formidable leader in the AI race. Its recent moves—unveiling the Veo AI video generator, launching the Gemini 3 language model, and releasing a new generation of custom AI chips—have not only impressed investors but also raised profound questions about the future of technology, creativity, and trust.

Veo 3.1: Video Generation Enters a New Era

Google’s Veo 3.1, the company’s latest AI-powered video tool, is making waves for its ability to craft strikingly realistic videos from simple text prompts. The tool, available via Google Cloud, boasts features like richer native audio, more nuanced narrative control, and advanced image-to-video capabilities (MM+M).

Testing Veo 3.1 against OpenAI’s Sora, reviewers found Google’s results to be more lifelike and convincing. For example, when prompted to create a TV ad for headache medication, Veo generated an 8-second spot that mirrored the style and polish of real pharmaceutical advertisements. The AI’s depiction of people was so authentic, it became genuinely difficult to distinguish between computer-generated actors and real humans—a step up from Sora, where visual cues often reveal the artificial nature of the video.

But with such power comes a new set of challenges. Google’s Veo employs a series of safety filters, designed to block the creation of harmful or misleading content. It refuses to generate videos featuring living or deceased public figures, a safeguard not mirrored by its competitors. Yet, the system is not infallible. When prompted to create ads based on contested medical claims—such as the alleged link between acetaminophen and autism—Veo produced realistic, persuasive content regardless of the scientific validity. The tool’s ability to generate such material, even with some initial errors, underscores the double-edged sword of AI-driven creativity.

Gemini 3 and Ironwood TPUs: Google’s Technological Leap

It’s not just Veo that’s pushing Google to the forefront. The company’s Gemini 3 model, released in November 2025, has outperformed OpenAI’s latest versions of ChatGPT in several industry benchmarks (CNBC). Gemini 3’s rapid adoption—650 million users by October, up from 450 million in July—has not gone unnoticed. The stock market responded in kind: Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has seen its shares surge more than 66% this year and 30% this quarter alone, outpacing traditional tech giants like Nvidia and Microsoft.

Fueling this momentum is Google’s seventh-generation custom chip, the Ironwood Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). These chips, purpose-built for AI workloads, are now being offered to customers outside Google Cloud for the first time, potentially threatening Nvidia’s dominance in the AI hardware sector. Broadcom, the manufacturing partner for Google’s TPUs, has also benefited, with its stock climbing 65% year to date. The market is signaling a shift: for the first time since 2016, stocks tied to Google’s AI stack are trading at a premium over those linked to Nvidia and OpenAI’s ecosystem.

The rivalry is intensifying. Nvidia, whose GPUs have long been the backbone of AI research and deployment, is now facing existential questions about its role as Google’s TPUs gain traction. Meanwhile, OpenAI has reportedly declared a “code red”—delaying other projects to focus on improving ChatGPT’s quality and relevance.

Industry Shakeup: From Creative Teams to AI Ethics

These technological leaps are not happening in a vacuum. The rise of tools like Veo and Gemini has sparked a heated debate about the future of creative industries, advertising, and public trust. Adam Daley, VP of Social at CG Life, voices a growing concern among marketers and patient advocates. “A lot of these tools can be quite dangerous,” Daley warns, noting that AI-driven campaigns risk eroding the authenticity and trust painstakingly built within patient communities (MM+M).

Daley, who works closely with rare disease patients, highlights how AI-generated stories can never fully capture the nuance and individuality of real patient journeys. “People want real voices, coming from real actors,” he says. The backlash to AI influencer campaigns, such as the leukemia awareness effort featuring virtual persona Lil Miquela, which drew both massive engagement and criticism, signals that the public remains wary of synthetic authenticity.

Meanwhile, Apple is watching these developments closely. In response to industry pressure and its own lag in AI innovation, Apple recently appointed Amar Subramanya—a veteran of both Microsoft and Google’s AI divisions—to lead its revamped AI efforts. Subramanya will oversee Apple’s Foundation Models, AI safety, and the long-awaited overhaul of Siri, aiming to close the gap with more aggressive competitors (TechRadar).

Competition and the Path Ahead

The AI sector is entering a new phase of specialization and fragmentation. Amazon, for example, is pushing out its own Trainium3 AI chip, challenging both Nvidia and Google in the hardware arena (Bloomberg). As the market matures, the days when “AI lifted all boats” are fading. Investors and industry watchers are now picking winners and losers based on technical differentiation, real-world adoption, and strategic vision.

For Google, the combination of Veo’s creative prowess, Gemini’s linguistic sophistication, and the raw processing power of Ironwood TPUs has delivered a trifecta that’s hard to match. But the very strengths that fuel this progress—realism, scale, and speed—also magnify the stakes. Misinformation, loss of human touch, and ethical dilemmas will only grow as these systems become more pervasive and persuasive.

Google’s ascent in the AI race is as much about technological excellence as it is about navigating the evolving ethical and social responsibilities that come with it. As AI-generated content becomes indistinguishable from reality, the industry faces a pivotal moment: will these advances empower creativity and efficiency, or will they undermine trust and authenticity? The answer, as Google’s experience shows, will depend as much on human judgment as on machine intelligence.