Sundar Pichai Tells Employees To Embrace AI Or Fall Behind As Google-Parent Prepares For $85 Billion Spending Surge
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc., has urged employees to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance productivity as the company plans an $85 billion capital expenditure this year. During an all-hands meeting, he emphasized the need for efficiency without increasing headcount, stating that the era of simply adding staff is over. Google is also implementing internal training programs to make employees more AI-savvy, amid rising competition in the tech sector. Alphabet's stock saw a slight decline in after-hours trading, but it maintains strong upward momentum overall.
Google-parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL CEO Sundar Pichai has urged employees to ramp up their use of artificial intelligence, saying the company must boost productivity amid plans for $85 billion in capital expenditures this year.
What Happened: At an all-hands meeting last week, Pichai told staff that the era of adding headcount to scale operations is over, and that Google must now "accomplish more," reported CNBC, citing an audio of the meeting.
"Anytime you go through a period of extraordinary investment, you respond by adding a lot of headcount, right?" Pichai stated, adding, "But, in this AI moment, I think we have to accomplish more by taking advantage of this transition."
"We are going to be going through a period of much higher investment and I think we have to be frugal with our resources," he continued.
See also: Elon Musk Loses $34 Billion As Tesla Sheds $153 Billion Amid Feud With Trump—Here's How The Billionaire's Fortune Has Fared So Far In 2025
Brian Saluzzo, head of Google's infrastructure teams, highlighted urgency in making employees "more AI-savvy," citing internal tools like "Cider," an AI coding assistant now used weekly by 50% of its users, the report said.
Google has also launched "AI Savvy Google," an internal training hub with toolkits and Gemini-based courses built in partnership with DeepMind.
Why It's Important: As Google ramps up AI spending—up from $75 billion to $85 billion in 2025—the tech giant is also trying to cut costs by making its workforce more efficient.
The push comes as competitors like Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Microsoft Corporation MSFT, and Shopify Inc. SHOP demand similar AI adoption from employees.
Trending Investment Opportunities
Earlier this month, Yahoo Japan also mandated its 11,000 employees to integrate generative AI into their daily routines, aiming to double productivity through automation by 2028, reported TechRadar.
The rise of AI-powered automation has also accelerated layoffs in the tech sector, with up to 80,000 employees affected. Microsoft alone cut 15,000 jobs while committing $80 billion to new AI investments.
Price Action: In after-hours trading, Alphabet Inc.'s Class A shares slipped 0.27% to $195.23, and Class C shares edged down 0.14% to $196.15, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings show that GOOG maintains strong upward momentum across short, medium and long-term periods. Additional performance metrics can be found here.
Read next:
- Apple May See Fewer Searches In Safari, But Google CEO Sundar Pichai Insists AI Is Fueling Overall Query Growth: ‘Far From A Zero-Sum Game’
Photo Courtesy: JHVEPhoto on Shutterstock.com
