Google is once again dominating technology headlines following the high-profile launch of its advanced Gemini 3.0 and Nano Banana Pro AI models. The tech giant's current strategy of deeply integrating its core Search and other services with Gemini AI represents a monumental shift. However, a remarkable resurfaced video suggests this AI-first vision was conceived not recently, but a full quarter-century ago by co-founder Larry Page.
The Archival Prophecy: Page's 2000 Blueprint for AI Search
In a rare clip from the year 2000—merely two years after Google's founding—Larry Page can be seen articulating a vision that perfectly forecasts the company's trajectory. He described the concept of an "ultimate search engine" with stunning accuracy. "If we had the ultimate search engine, it would understand everything on the web," Page stated in the footage. He elaborated that it would comprehend a user's exact intent and deliver precisely the right information, identifying this capability as the essence of artificial intelligence.
"That’s obviously artificial intelligence—to be able to answer any question basically because almost everything is on the web," Page declared. This definition moves far beyond the simple link-based results of early search engines. It directly mirrors the core function of today's generative AI models, like Gemini, which synthesize vast information to provide coherent answers, not just page listings.
Acknowledging the Gap: The Long Road to AI
Even while painting this ambitious future, Page was candid about Google's technological limitations at the dawn of the new millennium. He admitted the company was "nowhere near" achieving true AI at that time. However, he emphasized a philosophy of incremental progress that has defined Google's research ethos. "We can get incrementally closer to that and that's basically what we work on," he explained, framing the challenge as a "tremendously interesting" intellectual pursuit.
Page highlighted the unique resources Google was already amassing, which he saw as the foundation for this future. He cited an index that would be 70 miles high if printed, a formidable 6000 computers for computation, and enough storage space for 100 copies of the entire web. He identified the "interesting confluence" of massive data and massive computation as a new frontier for engineering and science.
From Vision to Reality: The Gemini Fulfillment
The journey from Page's 2000 vision to the 2024 launch of Gemini 3.0 underscores a 25-year commitment to that original goal. The newly launched models, particularly the efficiency-focused Nano Banana Pro, represent the tangible outcomes of working "incrementally closer" to that ultimate, AI-powered search engine. Google's current integration of Gemini across its product suite is the logical culmination of building systems to "make use of" the data and computation Page described.
This historical perspective reframes Google's present AI push not as a sudden reaction to market trends, but as the execution of a long-held, foundational ambition. The archival footage provides a powerful lens through which to view today's announcements, showing that the seeds for the Gemini era were sown at the very beginning of the company's story.
