EWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. You can earn money by clicking on the link to your partner. learn more.
As the fear of AI taking over human jobs continues to rattle the tech industry, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai says AI is not here to take away jobs. At least not Google. The tech giant plans to hire employment engineers until next year, even if it doubles artificial intelligence.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Institute of Technology Conference in San Francisco, Pichai directly addressed concerns that AI could lead to massive reductions in jobs, as seen in other tech giants like Microsoft. He emphasized that AI is not a replacement for human workers, but rather an “accelerator” that increases productivity.
“We hope to grow from our current engineering base to next year, because it allows us to do more,” Pichai told Bloomberg's Emily Chan.
While acknowledging that AI is changing the way we work, Pichai described the technology as making engineers less productive and more obsolete.
“I think this will make the engineers dramatically productive and get a lot of the usual aspects from what they're doing,” he said.
Rather than cutting jobs, Pichai added that it is speeding up product development and creating demand for more skilled workers.
Glimpse into AI limitations
Despite his optimism, Pichai admitted that AI still has its limitations. He pointed out that while AI excels at tasks like coding, it is not perfect and continues to make basic mistakes.
In the big picture of where AI is heading, Pichai provided a grounded view. When asked if AI is moving us to artificial general information (AGI), AI is at a level consistent with human thoughts – he said: “Are we currently on an absolute path to AGI? I think no one can say for sure.
“There are a lot of positive progress in not just the set of ideas we are working on, but also in our paths going forward. [but] Some of the new ideas we are experimenting with,” he added.
Recent layoffs were due to changes in focus
Alphabet has acquired thousands of employees in recent years, including 12,000 jobs in 2023 and an additional 1,000 or more jobs in 2024. However, the 2025 layoffs were more limited and strategic. Earlier this year, fewer than 100 employees were fired by Google Cloud, and hundreds more were fired on its platform and device units.
Nevertheless, Pichai repeated that the current focus is on the buildings, not on the reduction. He pointed to Alphabet's ongoing projects, including Waymo's self-driving cars, quantum computing, and YouTube's thriving creator economy, especially in India, where 15,000 channels have over 1 million subscribers.
AI fears impact on the workforce
Some tech leaders have warned about the long-term threats that AI poses to the workforce. Humanity CEO Dario Amody recently warned that up to half of the entry-level white-collar jobs could disappear within five years.
Pichai did not dismiss the concern. “I respect that… I think it's important to express and discuss those concerns,” he said.
The PYMNT Intelligence report recently found that 54% of US workers believe generative AI can lead to widespread unemployment. Emotions are becoming even stronger among tech workers, especially those who already use AI tools regularly.
Google's AI Search Answers Don't Kill Websites (still)
Pichai, who has led Google since 2015, is not a man who knows the promises and problems of AI. As Google Search evolves to include more AI-generated answers, some publishers are worried about losing web traffic, but Pichai said they are careful not to cut them out.
“Be careful to design an experience that presents your links compared to most companies around the world,” he said. “We've tested our AI overview and prioritization approach and tested high-quality traffic. We're sure that's how Google works for years to come.”
Read Eweek's report on how to protect yourself at work.
