Josh Woodward on Unlearning Rates and Explosive Endurance
Josh Woodward of Google Labs explains why unlearning rate, explosive endurance, and trust matter more than prompt engineering in the AI era.
Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team | Josh Woodward (VP Google Labs)
With Lenny Rachitsky, Josh Woodward · Sunday, October 11, 2026
Josh Woodward, head of Google Labs, Gemini app, and AI Studio, discusses why companies must operate like experimental labs in the fast-moving AI era. He outlines how breakthrough ideas emerge from tracking what is 'almost possible,' why early product-market fit is measured in eye reactions rather than analytics dashboards, and how to know when to kill projects. Woodward also explains why job roles are not homogenizing into generic builders and shares tactical principles for structuring internal corporate labs to avoid common failure modes.
Key takeaways
- Josh Woodward looks for high unlearning rates: the speed at which a builder abandons a polished belief when user feedback contradicts it. Read more →
- Josh Woodward runs Google Labs with an internal document containing 82 predictions, each beginning with "we believe the future is" or "we predict." Read more →
- Tech circles hype a future where software engineers, designers, and PMs merge into a single "builder" role, but Josh Woodward sees the opposite at Google Labs. Read more →
3 articles from this episode
You Can't Microwave Ideas: Google Labs on AI Breakouts
Josh Woodward explains how Google Labs tracks 'almost possible' phase shifts instead of design sprints to spot breakthrough AI products.
Why AI Won't Turn Your Team into Generic Builders
Google Labs head Josh Woodward explains why AI shrinks team sizes to 2-3 people without erasing deep functional specialties.
More Lenny's Podcast episodes
- Where AI products go next: voice, agents, and self-driving software | Tara Sesha and Nan Yu (OpenAI)Oct 4 · 5 articles
- Roles aren't converging—they're expanding | Tamar Yehoshua (Atlassian CPO)Oct 4 · 5 articles
- OpenAI’s Head of ChatGPT: We’re entering a new era of AI (again) | Tibo SottiauxOct 4 · 5 articles
- Context is now the product: Product leadership when software can build itself | Karri SaarinenOct 4 · 5 articles