Google is increasing the pressure on more of its employees to use AI. Software engineers aren’t the only ones expected to embrace AI.
In recent weeks, Google managers have informed some employees in non-technical roles that they are expected to use AI in their workflows as well, four employees familiar with the changes told Business Insider.
In some cases, non-technical staff have been explicitly told that the use of AI will be considered in their performance reviews later this year, two of the employees said.
This change marks the next step in Google’s efforts to bring AI to every corner of the company. Business Insider previously reported that Google told some software engineers last year that the use of AI would officially become part of their job expectations. Google leaders say AI is increasingly responsible for code generated within the company.
Google, like its peers, has encouraged its employees to use AI in hopes of improving productivity. Business Insider previously reported that Meta employees were told that their 2026 performance review would evaluate “AI-driven impact.” Microsoft leaders also told staff that AI is no longer an option.
CEO Sundar Pichai told employees last year that Google would have to do the same because rival companies would use AI internally.
Expectations for using AI at Google vary by team and role. Engineers are expected to use AI coding assistants that can generate code and answer technical questions. Non-technical employees are being asked to use AI to create strategy documents, analyze sales calls and build customer insights, two staffers told Business Insider.
In some cases, these expectations are formally built into the employee’s role profile, an internal description of the job’s tasks and expectations. Two employees in non-technical roles told Business Insider that their managers explicitly told them that the use of AI would be considered during performance reviews, known as Googler Reviews and Development (GRAD).
Two sales employees told Business Insider that they are expected to use internal AI tools to record calls and take notes. Some say they are given a quota on how many times a week they can use the tool. In some cases, expectations can be tied to seniority. A third employee said he was told that senior staff were expected to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the use of AI than junior staff.
A Google spokesperson told Business Insider that technical and non-technical managers have discretion to evaluate employees based on their use of AI. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that some software engineer roles will be evaluated based on their use of AI.
Google strengthens use of AI internally
Google is gradually raising the standards for its use of AI within the company. In June, Megan Kachoria, vice president of engineering, sent an email to software engineers encouraging the use of AI tools and informing them that their job descriptions had been updated to include using AI to solve coding problems.
Google CFO Anat Ashkenazi said during the company’s Q4 2025 earnings call that about 50% of Google’s code is written by agents and then reviewed by human engineers. That number appears to be increasing further, with Pichai saying the number was over 30% as of April.
Googlers are generally only allowed to use their company’s internal AI tools. Employees can ask questions to a special version of Google’s Gemini chatbot (named Duckie) that is familiar with internal documents. There’s also a coding tool called Goose that was trained on Google’s tech history, Business Insider previously reported.
Internal AI tools are also designed to allow employees to input sensitive company information without risking it being exposed to external parties. In some cases, these are third-party tools that have been modified to fit Google’s internal needs. One of the tools cloud salespeople use is Yoodli. This is an AI avatar that allows sales reps to role-play a conversation before picking up the phone to call a customer.
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