AI will be part of Google's future leadership: Sundar Pichai
What's the story
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, has predicted that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a key part of the tech giant's future leadership during the Bloomberg Tech Conference.
When asked whether a human or AI would run Google in the future, Pichai responded, "I do think whoever is running it will have an extraordinary AI companion."
This statement comes amid growing concerns about AI replacing humans.
Tech impact
Need for responsible technology development
Pichai also stressed the need for responsible technology development.
He said, "The products we built tremendously impact society."
"The journey of technologies, doing the hard work to make sure you're harnessing it in a way that benefits people. I think that'll be an important quality to have," the Google CEO added.
AI integration
AI should be seen as an enhancement, not a threat
Pichai's comments highlight Google's commitment to integrating AI into its operations.
They come at a time when many tech companies are investing heavily in AI technology.
However, Pichai also sought to allay fears surrounding the technology, emphasizing that it should be viewed as an enhancement rather than a threat to human productivity.
Future workforce
Google plans to keep hiring engineers through 2026
Despite the rise of AI, Alphabet, Google's parent company, intends to keep hiring engineers through 2026.
This shows that human talent is still important even as the company invests more in AI.
Pichai said he uses AI tools like Replit and Cursor for coding tasks. He said these tools help streamline processes by replacing traditional manual programming methods with key prompts.
Scenario
AI investments fuel tech layoffs
Tech giants like Microsoft have laid off more employees this year, partly due to the massive investments required to stay ahead in AI.
These job cuts have fueled concerns about AI replacing certain roles.
Google, too, has carried out multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years to reallocate resources.
Pichai noted that although AI performs well in tasks like coding, it still makes fundamental errors and relies on human oversight.