OpenAI launched ChatGPT for the first time in November 2022. Inside Google, the AI chatbot’s rising popularity actually led to a very serious “code red” for search and refocused teams to respond.

Four months later, in March 2023, Google very hastily went ahead with the launch of Bard. However, things didn’t really pan out the way they wanted. During the launch event, Bard stumbled upon a fact related to ‘James Webb telescope,’ and that moment led to a wave of mistrust amongst users. Several analysts came forward to express their views & criticize the move. Analyst Gil Luria didn’t mince words: Google “fell asleep on implementing this technology… and the announcement… was rushed,” he said.

Next year, Google tried again. In May 2024, Google launched AI Overviews and that rollout had its own rough patch. Screenshots showed answers suggesting glue on pizza and even eating rocks. Google responded by dialing the feature back and shipped fixes, but the moment stuck. Some on Wall Street said leadership had grown “too complacent” and was caught “flat-footed.”

And yet, the story doesn’t end there. Over the next year, Google was able to successfully turn its AI setbacks into dominance – and that’s what I’m going to cover in this article. Ready to walk through the key turns that flipped the script? Keep reading!

How Google eventually returned back to the game?

Google’s turnout wasn’t as one big reveal.

It happened by shipping, feature by feature, in places people already live online.

• AI Overviews (May 2024)
  This was Google’s re‑entry into consumer AI. When you asked a question, you sometimes got a direct, generative answer rather than a list of links. But early versions had its own mistakes. “Glue pizza” and “eat rock” screenshots went viral. But Google responded quickly: it adjusted the model to avoid absurd responses.
• NotebookLM → Veo 3 → AI Mode
  Over the next year, Google rolled out tools that grew in ambition: NotebookLM (which turned documents into readable summaries or chat), then Veo 3 (generative video), and at I/O 2025, AI Mode shifted Search toward a conversational experience. These tools weren’t just demos, they showed how Google planned to thread AI into its core.
• Pixel updates, Gemini, Chrome integration
  In August 2025, a new Pixel added features like 100x zoom and real-time translation. Gemini’s image features (nicknamed Nano Banana) drove such excitement that Gemini briefly overtook ChatGPT in the iPhone App Store in September. And on September 18, 2025, Google began embedding Gemini inside Chrome for U.S. desktop users, just as a court declined to force Google to divest Chrome, preserving its distribution leverage.

Each of these features wouldn’t matter alone. What matters is the pattern: tool after tool, Google showed up in places you already use – Search, your browser, your phone. The momentum came because people started doing real things with them, not just reading about them.

Why it now looks like dominance?

One of the clearest signs of Google’s turnaround came in September 2025, when Gemini briefly overtook ChatGPT on the U.S. App Store. The difference wasn’t just downloads. It was where those downloads led: people opening the app, using AI features in Photos and Chrome, and actually coming back.

But the real turning point was what happened just days later. On September 18, Google started rolling Gemini into Chrome for desktop users in the U.S. If you were using Chrome in English, you suddenly had access to a built-in AI assistant—no extra tab, no separate tool.

Meanwhile, there were growing signs that AI was beginning to reshape behavior. AI Overviews had gone from an experiment to something people encountered by default. And with that shift came new habits like less link-clicking, faster decisions, and more time spent inside the Google experience itself. That’s not just dominance in a feature war. That’s a quiet reshaping of the web’s center of gravity.

None of this means Google is invincible. Critics continue to raise valid concerns about accuracy, transparency, and the ripple effects AI summaries may have on publishers and independent sites. But if dominance is measured by default presence, repeat usage, and steady improvement, then Google has clearly found its footing again.

Wrapping Up

This wasn’t a comeback built on a single headline or one perfect launch. It was slower than that. Quieter, too. Google didn’t try to wow people into forgetting its early stumbles. Instead, it kept showing up, fixing what broke, listening when people pushed back, and adding small things that made tools feel more helpful again.

There were moments when it felt like maybe Google had missed its chance. But dominance, in this case, came not from being first, but from being everywhere. In Search, in Chrome, in Photos, on your phone. That’s what changed.

And if you’re reading this wondering when it happened… you’re not alone. That’s how turning points usually work. They don’t arrive with a big banner. They arrive one screen at a time.