Sundar Pichai Supports Human Talent As Google Inflates Engineering Amid AI Boom

Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai has emphasised the importance of human talent, despite their growing investment in artificial intelligence.

At the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco last week, he said that Google's parent company will continue to increase its engineering workforce in 2026.

Many US tech firms, including Microsoft Corp. have minimised their staff to accommodate the financial commitments required to stay at the cutting edge of AI.

Google has also downsized its staff in recent years to allocate resources more effectively. These reductions have triggered concerns about AI replacing certain job roles. However, Pichai shared his commitment to further engineering investments in the near future.

As Google welcomes more AI into its search engine, publishers have shared their concerns that AI-generated responses are diverting traffic away from their sites. Pichai highlighted the company's dedication to drive traffic to the web.

At the same conference, Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth shared his view stating the cultural shift seen in the Silicon Valley, which is more agreeable for the technology industry to support the US military’s efforts. 

The company last week partnered with defence contractor Anduril Industries Inc. to create products for the US military, including an AI-powered helmet equipped with virtual and augmented reality capabilities.

(Inputs from Bloomberg)