Google execs say employees have to 'be more AI-savvy' as competition ramps up

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesGoogle executives are pushing employees to act with more urgency in their use of artificial intelligence as the company looks for ways to cut costs

That was the message at an all-hands meeting last week, featuring CEO Sundar Pichai and Brian Saluzzo, who runs the teams building the nical foundation for Google's flagship ducts (something worth watching). "Anytime you go through a period of extraordinary investment, you respond by adding a lot of headcount, right (an important development) (an important development), given the current landscape

Moreover, " Pichai said, according to audio obtained by CNBC, considering recent developments. "But in this AI moment, I think we have to accomplish more by taking advantage of this transition to drive higher ductivity (which is quite significant). "In its earnings report last week, Alphabet said it plans to spend $85 billion on capital expenditures in 2025, up from the $75 billion it was targeting earlier in the year

It's a theme that's resonating across nology, where internet giants are racing to build costly data centers to run big AI models and workloads while simultaneously cutting expenses elsewhere. "We're competing with other companies in the world," Pichai said at the meeting

At the same time, "There will be companies which will become more efficient through this moment in terms of employee ductivity, which is why I think it's important to focus on that

Moreover, "In June, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company's corporate workforce will shrink in the coming years as it adopts more generative AI tools and agents

On the other hand, In an to employees, Jassy wrote that employees should learn how to use AI tools and experiment and figure out "how to get more done with scrappier teams. "watch now4:3604:36Alphabet's valuation remains highly attractive, says Evercore ISI's Mark MahaneySquawk BoxMicrosoft's president overseeing developer tools, Julia Liuson, told employees in June that "using AI is no longer optional. " Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke said in April there's a "fundamental expectation" that employees are using AI in their day-to-day work and, before asking "for more headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI. "While Alphabet's headcount has been ticking up in recent quarters, it's still below the peak from 2023, when the company had close to 191,000 full-time employees

The number was just over 187,000 at the end of June, according to Alphabet's quarterly financial filing last week

Moreover, "We're going to be going through a period of much higher investment and I think we have to be frugal with our resources, and I would strive to be more ductive and efficient as a company," Pichai said, adding that he's "very optimistic" how Google is doing, given current economic conditions

Google declined to on the remarks, given current economic conditions. 'We feel the urgency'At the meeting, Saluzzo highlighted a number of tools the company is building for software engineers, or SWEs, to help "everybody at Google be more AI-savvy. ""We feel the urgency to really quickly and urgently get AI into more of the coding workflows to address top needs so you see a much more rapid increase in velocity," Saluzzo said

Additionally, Saluzzo said Google has a portfolio of AI ducts available to employees "so folks can go faster

However, " He mentioned an internal site called "AI Savvy Google" which has courses, toolkits and learning sessions, including some for individual duct areas (remarkable data)

However, Google's engineering education team, which develops courses for internal and external use, partnered with DeepMind on a training called "Building with Gemini" that the company will start moting soon, Saluzzo said

Furthermore, He also referenced a new internal AI coding tool called Cider that helps software engineers with various aspects of the development cess

However, Since May, when the company first introduced Cider, 50% of users tap the service on a weekly basis, Saluzzo said (quite telling)

Regarding Google's internal AI tools, Saluzzo said that employees should "expect them to continuously get better" and that "they'll become a pretty integral part of most SWE work, amid market uncertainty

Additionally, On the other hand, "Google made a big splash in the AI coding market earlier this month, snapping up key execs at high-file startup Windsurf as part of a $2 (which is quite significant). 4 billion deal, in today's financial world

Windsurf co-founder and CEO Varun Mohan is joining Google, along with other senior re and development employees

On the other hand, Pichai referenced the "acquiring" of Mohan and said at the meeting, Windsurf's founding team and engineers, "I think they will end up helping a lot in this area as well, amid market uncertainty. "WATCH: Google snatches Windsurf CEOwatch now2:2302:23Google snatches Windsurf CEO after OpenAI deal dissolvesCheck.