They’d largely stepped out of day-to-day operating roles in 2019.

Google didn’t comment on the co-founders' moves or its stance on ChatGPT.

But spokesperson Lily Lin said ensuring AI is used safely is important to the company.

Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster sees ChatGPT, GPT-3 and large language models as a competitive threat to Google.

“This is the outcome that could hurt Google in the long-term.”

Ultimately, though, Google should be able to withstand the threat, he predicted.