Google is dethroning OpenAI as the king of consumer AI
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Business | Agents for the masses<br>Google is dethroning OpenAI as the king of consumer AI<br>But its users are burning through quadrillions of tokens a month<br>Share
Photograph: Getty Images
May 20th 2026|Mountain View|4 min read
THE AMPHITHEATRE complex where Google holds its annual software-developers’ conference has a cheesy, fairground feel. RVs are parked on site. Employees whiz in on the tech company’s multi-coloured bicycles. There are stands and sideshows everywhere. On stage, Sundar Pichai, its boss, tells a corny joke about Google’s overworked chips, known as TPUs, doing “teraflops into bed”.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Agents for<br>the masses”
From the May 23rd 2026 edition<br>Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents<br>⇒Explore the edition
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