Alphabet's stock could soar as Google's Gemini AI gets a TikTok-style makeover

By Christine Ji

A potential redesign of Gemini could boost user engagement and serve as the next catalyst for Alphabet's already-hot stock

Google's Gemini could soon feature interactive prompts and more visual features.

Big changes could be coming to Alphabet Inc.'s Google Gemini that would give the technology giant a further edge in the artificial-intelligence race.

Gemini may soon look a lot more like a TikTok feed than a chatbot interface, as Google (GOOGL) (GOOG) is reportedly working on features such as a scrollable stream of prompts or a discovery section to replace the current blank landing page. The changes were first reported by Android Authority, which discovered the unreleased feature hidden within the code of a recent version of the app.

It's a move that could boost user interaction and expand use cases for Gemini, Bank of America analyst Justin Post wrote in a note on Tuesday. "A more visual, feed-based layout could improve engagement by appealing to mobile users accustomed to scrolling formats" such as TikTok and Meta Platform Inc.'s (META) Reels, according to Post. New content formats could also "increase opportunities for premium subscription tiers or sponsored content placements," he added.

Gemini is already gaining momentum, having rapidly climbed up the ranks to beat out ChatGPT for the title of "best AI at the end of 2025" on prediction market Kalshi, with an implied probability of 65%.

Its strong performance - most recently with the image-manipulation tool Nano Banana - has contributed to Alphabet's surging stock price in 2025, and a Gemini revamp could be the next catalyst to send Alphabet's stock higher. After faltering earlier this year due to concerns about AI hurting its Search business, shares of Alphabet are up 30% year to date, making the company the year's second-best-performing "Magnificent Seven" stock behind Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)

Read on: Alphabet's stock just had its best quarter in two decades thanks to AI

This Gemini development comes after OpenAI announced its ChatGPT Pulse feature and Sora app in recent weeks, which analysts speculated could be a move to pivot into advertising revenue streams - a lucrative source of AI monetization.

After the launch of Sora, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak wrote in a note last week that Google and Meta were unlikely to be "slow to respond," as they were initially to the launch of ChatGPT, "should they see shifting consumer behavior." And indeed, the reported Gemini updates show that Google is not resting on its laurels.

Multimodal chatbot interfaces that allow users to interact through text, voice, images and video are shaping up to be the future of AI assistants, BofA's Post believes, both for better user interaction and monetization.

The move toward new monetization methods isn't surprising. Investors are eager to see a return on investment on the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been spent on AI thus far, especially as companies plan to spend billions more.

"Anything that generates more revenue is the next step," Josh Chastant, portfolio manager of public investments at Guidestone, told MarketWatch. Optimism for the AI trade overall has been high as Big Tech companies increase their capital expenditures, and initiatives that help AI bring in money will be critical to sustaining high valuations, Chastant said.

The stakes for monetization are higher for some players. Google - similar to Meta and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) - can leverage its distribution across its vast ecosystem of products to enhance potential advertising features on Gemini. However, OpenAI has proven to be a significant disruptor with ChatGPT, and the winners in the race to develop multimodal AI interfaces are far from determined.

Representatives from Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Also read: OpenAI wants to build a social-media business. Can its Sora app take on Meta and Google?

-Christine Ji

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10-07-25 1307ET