Breaking: Google CEO Sundar Pichai Reassures on AI Impact Amidst Layoffs and Expert Warnings
Are you worried about what the employees will become because of the development of AI? Well, the CEO of Google Sundar Pichai reassures you. This technology does not represent a threat. Not for employment within his business anyway.
Sundar Pichai, also CEO of Alphabet, the mother house of Google, recently spoke to respond to increasing concerns concerning the impact of AI on employment. In an interview with Bloomberg, he wanted to qualify the alarmist speeches.
According to him, AI should not be perceived as a threat. Rather, he considers it as a growth lever likely to expand Alphabet’s workforce rather than reducing it.
Why did Alphabet dismiss thousands of people then?
Alphabet has, in fact, experienced several waves of significant layoffs in recent years. Especially the deletion of 12,000 positions in January 2023, followed by nearly a thousand additional departures in 2024.
New cuts are even expected in 2025. Well, Google’s parent company is not the only one to have restructured. Other tech giants, such as Microsoft, also did. The latter having recently announced 7,000 job cuts.
Despite this reality, Sundar Pichai remains confident about the impact that AI could have on work. He believes that technology would make it possible to delegate certain repetitive tasks or time-consuming automated systems. This will release employees for more creative and strategic missions.
“I expect our current engineering phase to continue until next year, because it allows us to do more,” he said. And this, while evoking the potential of AI as a “accelerator” of development.
You still have to keep your feet on the ground, Google!
Despite the displayed optimism, the CEO of Alphabet remains lucid. It is still not for nothing if several actors warn against the threat of AI.
Hold, Dario Amodei, PDG d’Anthropic, for example. He fears that the AI will replace within five years up to 50 % of jobs in beginner white collars. He said it recently.
Asked about these recent declarations, Pichai has recognized the legitimacy of these concerns. But he still called for an open discussion. “I respect this point of view … It is important to express your concerns and to debate it,” he said.
The Alphabet leader also stressed that many tracks remain to be explored in the field of AI. Both in terms of current projects and more recent experiments.
“There are still technological development curves likely to lead to temporary trays,” he said. As for whether we are already on the path leading to general artificial intelligence (IAG), he remains cautious: “I do not think that anyone can affirm it with certainty.”
And you, are you reassured by the speech of Sundar Pichai? Do you think AI will soon steal your work? Leave us your impressions in the comments!
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