Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin emphasized that the company could establish itself as a leader in artificial general intelligence if employees increased their efforts, suggesting a 60-hour work week as a solution. His comments came amid Google's push to regain its status as a pioneer in AI, especially after the launch of ChatGPT in 2022 intensified competition in the space. Brin's call reflects the company's commitment to staying at the forefront of AI development in a rapidly evolving industry.
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A report by The New York Times revealed that Sergey Brin urged Google employees to work from the office on weekdays. "I recommend being in the office at least every weekday," Brin stated in his memo, according to the report. He also claimed that a 60-hour work week is the "sweet spot of productivity" in a note addressed to Gemini, Google's lineup of AI models and applications.
"Competition has accelerated immensely, and the final race to AGI is underway," wrote Brin, whose estimated net worth is $144 billion, as per the NYT report.
Brin urged Google employees to act with greater urgency to stay ahead of competitors like OpenAI and Microsoft. "I believe we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we need to turbocharge our efforts," he stated, emphasizing that "60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity." Brin also encouraged engineers to leverage Google's AI models to assist in writing code, which he said would help make them "the most efficient coders and AI scientists in the world."
The initial 100 million users who experimented with ChatGPT two years ago found it either remarkably useful or disappointingly average, depending on the task. In recent years, tech leaders have proposed similar ideas, often viewed as efforts to reduce hiring and cut costs. Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy suggested a 70-hour work week last year, while L&T Chairman SN Subrahmanyan recommended a 90-hour work week earlier this year. These proposals reflect growing pressure to increase productivity while managing company expenses.
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