Alphabet Q1: Google’s AI Push Hits 1.5B Users as Antitrust Storm Rages

**Alphabet Q1: Google’s AI Push Hits 1.5B Users as Antitrust Storm Rages** _Sundar Pichai bets big on Gemini amid looming breakup threats_

Google’s AI-powered search summaries now reach 1.5 billion monthly users, CEO Sundar Pichai revealed Thursday during Alphabet’s Q1 2025 earnings call—a milestone underscoring its AI ambitions even as U.S. regulators escalate efforts to dismantle its empire.

AI Overviews: From Memes to Mainstream

Despite a chaotic debut in May 2024 (remember viral advice about eating rocks?), AI Overviews has evolved into a key battleground against ChatGPT and Perplexity. Google has quietly added ads to the feature while expanding its query coverage, signaling a long-term play to monetize generative AI in search.

Gemini’s Quiet Takeover

The quarter saw Google:

• Launch Gemini 2.5 Pro, its most advanced AI model yet

• Turn research into podcasts via Deep Research

• Add screenshot-based trip planning to Maps using Gemini

• Confirm plans to kill Assistant for Gemini on phones by mid-2025, with tablets, cars, and wearables following by year’s end.

Hardware Hiccups, Financial Fireworks

A delayed Pixel 9A launch (blamed on “component issues”) couldn’t dent Alphabet’s $90.2B revenue—a 12% YoY jump. Subscriptions crossed 270 million, fueled by YouTube’s paid tiers and Google One cloud storage.

Regulators Circle

The wins come with asterisks:

• 🔨 March 2024: Court rules Google’s search a monopoly

• 🔨 April 2025: Loses ad tech monopoly case

Remedies trial underway; breakup scenarios loom

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai sidestepped legal questions but doubled down on AI: “This is foundational to our next decade.” Yet with antitrust hammers falling and AI rivals accelerating, Google’s golden quarter may foreshadow its toughest fight yet.