As we settle into 2025, Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, is keeping his team focused on what’s next.

In an email to employees, shared to 9to5Google, Pichai highlighted a busy few months ahead, promising new AI products and features that are, in his words, driven by “amazing progress.”

One of these new projects is already in the wild: Google has begun testing “Daily Listen” in Search Labs. Think of it as a personalized podcast tailored to your interests—essentially a curated audio companion for your daily grind. It’s another example of Google leaning hard into the idea of personalized, AI-powered experiences.

On the developer side, December’s announcement that Gemini 2.0 Flash would hit general availability this month still looms large.

Speculation is also swirling about whether this rollout will finally strip the “Experimental” label from the Gemini app’s 2.0 Flash version, bringing a more polished product into users’ hands.

And if you’re one of those very curious paid subscribers waiting for the mysterious “2.0 Experimental Advanced” tier—well, that’s still a bit of a cliffhanger.

Looking ahead, Google One subscribers can expect NotebookLM Plus to land in early 2025.

Meanwhile, Gemini 2.0 is set to integrate even more deeply into Google’s core offerings, including AI Overviews in Search, which should arrive sooner rather than later.

Notably, Pichai’s timing syncs up with the annual tech spectacle that is Google I/O, typically held in early May.

It’s the perfect stage for Google to showcase its AI momentum, which Pichai described as part of the company’s effort to “reimagine products and processes for a new era.”

But Pichai didn’t stop there. In his note, he also acknowledged the human side of things, calling attention to the wildfires devastating Southern California and how thousands of Google employees are affected. The company has launched a matching program to help employees contribute to relief efforts, while Google.org is stepping up with funding for recovery initiatives.

In classic Google fashion, it’s a mix of tech optimism and real-world impact—a reminder that even in the race for AI supremacy, there are still real people behind the code.