Sundar Pichai tells Google employees to rely more on AI than colleagues to drive productivity

India Today

15 hours ago

Google is asking its employees to rely on AI more often — not just to build new things, but to help them work faster and smarter. Top bosses are making it clear: the new way of working is to do more with less, and AI is a big part of that. During a company-wide meeting last week, Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, spoke about the rising expectations on teams. While building AI tools remains important, Google is also changing how teams should work — with fewer people, quicker processes, and more help from AI.advertisementAccording to a report by CNBC, Pichai told employees, 'Anytime you go through a period of extraordinary investment, you respond by adding a lot of headcount, right? But in this AI moment, I think we have to accomplish more by taking advantage of this transition to drive higher productivity.' This reflects what many tech companies are doing today — putting a lot of money into AI, but also asking teams to handle more work with fewer staff. CNBC adds that Alphabet, Google's parent company, plans to spend $85 billion on infrastructure in 2025. That's more than the $75 billion it was planning earlier this year.Pichai's point was also supported by Brian Saluzzo, who heads the engineering teams that manage Google's main tech systems. Saluzzo said there's a 'real urgency' to bring AI into more everyday work, especially for Google's software developers. That includes AI tools to help them code faster, and training programmes to help workers understand AI better.
Google is also promoting its internal AI tools, such as Cider — an AI-based coding helper — which, according to Saluzzo, is already used weekly by half of the people who have access to it. He also mentioned 'AI Savvy Google', a website made for Google staff that shares toolkits, lessons and courses to help them learn AI. Google has also teamed up with DeepMind to build a training course called 'Building with Gemini', which will launch soon.This shift in mindset isn't just happening at Google. Other major tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Shopify are also expecting workers to use AI more often. The report also mentions that Microsoft's Julia Liuson recently told employees that 'using AI is no longer optional', while Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke said teams need to show that they can't do something with AI before they ask for more people.Meanwhile, Google's total number of employees has slightly gone down from its highest point in 2023. It now has just over 187,000 full-time staff. Pichai admitted that the company's resources are tighter, saying, 'We are going to be going through a period of much higher investment, and I think we have to be frugal with our resources.'- Ends