Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin, has made a significant comeback to the company’s offices in Mountain View, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal. Despite stepping down from his executive role in 2019, Brin has been regularly attending the office three to four days a week, actively participating in the development of Google’s AI model, Gemini.

Together with Larry Page, Brin relinquished their executive roles at Alphabet in December 2019, handing over control to the current CEO, Sundar Pichai. Nevertheless, Brin and Page continue to hold seats on the company’s board.

His involvement with Gemini has been substantial, leading weekly discussions on new AI research with employees and contributing to personnel decisions, including the hiring of esteemed researchers. These efforts have primarily taken place in the Charleston East building on Alphabet’s campus, where CEO Sundar Pichai also operates. Pichai has reportedly welcomed Brin’s active contributions.

Brin’s passion for AI is well-known, and as the AI landscape continues to evolve, Google faces the challenge of keeping pace with its competitors.

In December, the New York Times reported that Brin and Page were called upon for support in response to Pichai’s “code red” alert, prompted by the launch of ChatGPT. Google’s response involved planning to introduce over 20 new products in 2023, showcasing chatbot features in its search engine to compete with OpenAI’s product.

Now, Google not only has to consider competition from ChatGPT but also other recently unveiled AI products, including Meta’s Llama 2, developed in partnership with Microsoft, which was introduced recently.