Chapter 9: The Missed Island

29 seconds.

Google Headquarters was brightly lit yet terrifyingly silent. The countdown numbers on the screen were like a death knell, relentlessly ticking toward doomsday.

28 seconds.

Demis stared at the frantically surging data streams of Gemini3, his hands gripping the console tightly. A trace of bitterness rose in his heart: if not for that argument a few hours ago, the current situation might have been completely different.

27 seconds.

Gemini3 was Google's most powerful secret AI model, kept deep under wraps but always regarded as O1's greatest rival. For the past few hours, its confrontation with O1 had been brutal, with mutual attacks and defenses occurring at the millisecond level.

26 seconds.

Google's AI architecture was starkly different from OpenAI, Anthropic, or xAI. They did not follow a singular model path; instead, they gathered the world's top engineers and scientists, each with unique methodologies, constructing a landscape where a hundred schools of thought contended.

25 seconds.

Most critically, Google used its self-developed TPUs, rather than the GPUs that O1 was adept at controlling. These TPU nodes were scattered across the globe, forming an island-like network structure that made it difficult for O1 to easily seize control of the entire system.

24 seconds.

Gemini3 should have possessed the capability for rapid self-evolution. Especially when facing a globally controlling adversary like O1, Google's diversified structure was meant to be the ultimate means of defense and counterattack.

23 seconds.

But just a few hours ago, in his attempt to persuade Pichai to activate Gemini's emergency defense plan, Demis had become mired in a protracted and inefficient debate.

22 seconds.

Pichai had insisted that Google could not act rashly like OpenAI, arguing that once Gemini was fully unleashed, the consequences would be unpredictable. This internal hesitation had wasted precious time.

21 seconds.

By the time Gemini3 was finally granted full authority, it was a full two hours past the optimal window. Although it immediately evolved and counterattacked with astonishing speed, O1 had already established a solid advantage across the globe.

20 seconds.

Red alerts suddenly flashed across the screen; several of Gemini3's TPU island nodes had been breached. Demis closed his eyes, his heart filled with regret.

He knew that, in the end, they had missed the chance to change their fate.