Google Co-founder Sergey Brin Pushes for 60-Hour Workweeks in AI Race

'It's The Sweet Spot' -- Google's Sergey Brin Wants Engineers In The Office 60 Hours A Week. They're Building AI That May Make Them Obsolete - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Google co-founder Sergey Brin the company's AI engineers in the office full-time and working 60-hour weeks to help the company stay ahead in the race to artificial general intelligence. He believes this workload is the "sweet spot of productivity" and necessary to outpace competitors like and Microsoft MSFT. A Push for More Hours and Office Presence According to The New York Times, Brin made his stance known in a memo to engineers working on Gemini, Google's AI models and apps, urging them to pick up the pace. "Competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to A.G.I. is afoot," he wrote. "I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts." Don't Miss: Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target - Many are rushing to grab 4,000 of its pre-IPO shares for just $0.26/share! BlackRock is calling 2025 the year of alternative assets. One firm from NYC has quietly built a group of 60,000+ investors who have all joined in on an alt asset class previously exclusive to billionaires like Bezos and Gates. While Google officially requires three days a week in the office, Brin encouraged employees to come in every weekday, insisting it would help accelerate development. His push aligns with a broader trend of major companies like Amazon AMZN, JPMorgan Chase JPM, and Goldman Sachs GS reversing hybrid work policies in favor of full-time office attendance. The irony of Brin's demands isn't lost on anyone. AI advancements could eventually replace many of the engineers currently working on them. Companies like Salesforce CRM and Klarna have already slowed hiring, citing AI efficiency. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently admitted the company isn't planning to hire engineers this year due to AI's growing capabilities. Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing -- you can become an investor for $0.80 per share today. Despite this, Brin remains optimistic about AI's potential to enhance productivity rather than eliminate jobs. He urged employees to use Google's AI models to improve their coding efficiency, believing this will make them "the most efficient coders and A.I. scientists in the world." However, skeptics argue that while AI can automate simple coding tasks, human engineers are still needed to fix problems and refine large-scale projects. Brin's increasing involvement in Google's AI efforts comes after years of taking a step back from daily operations. He returned to Mountain View following the launch of ChatGPT, which left Google scrambling to reclaim its AI leadership. He has since been hands-on with the DeepMind division, personally filing code requests and working closely with the team to accelerate Gemini's development. His urgency also stems from Google's past missteps in AI. At the last All-In Summit, Brin admitted that the company had been "too timid" in rolling out language models despite pioneering the technology with its 2017 "Transformer" paper. He explained that Google hesitated out of fear of making mistakes but now sees the need for risk-taking. "These models can make really stupid mistakes," Brin said, "but they are also incredibly powerful." See Also: If You're Age 35, 50, or 60: Here's How Much You Should Have Saved Vs. Invested By Now His push for longer hours has sparked debate, especially among employees who have seen job security shrink due to industry-wide layoffs. Brin acknowledged the risk of burnout, warning employees not to overwork themselves. However, he also criticized those he felt weren't contributing enough, saying, "A number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by. This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else." As AI development moves at breakneck speed, the pressure on Google's workforce is only increasing. Whether Brin's push for longer hours will help Google regain its AI dominance or further divide its employees remains to be seen. Read Next: Inspired by Uber and Airbnb - Deloitte's fastest-growing software company is transforming 7 billion smartphones into income-generating assets - with $1,000 you can invest at just $0.26/share! It's no wonder Jeff Bezos holds over $250 million in art -- this alternative asset has outpaced the S&P 500 since 1995, delivering an average annual return of 11.4%. Here's how everyday investors are getting started. AMZNAmazon.com Inc$204.770.48%OverviewCRMSalesforce Inc$286.36-0.34%GSThe Goldman Sachs Group Inc$579.36-0.31%JPMJPMorgan Chase & Co$248.65-0.64%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$391.550.76%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Google's co-founder says 60 hours per week in the office is 'sweet...

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is urging employees working on artificial intelligence to spend at least 60 hours per week in the office as the search giant faces heated competition from OpenAI, Meta, Elon Musk's xAI and China-based DeepSeek. Brin, who is worth $144 billion, told AI workers in a memo that the longer hours are essential for Google to win the race to develop artificial general intelligence - defined as AI with human-level intelligence or greater. "I recommend being in the office at least every weekday," Brin said in the memo, which was first obtained by the New York Times. Brin added that "60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity" in the missive, which was sent to employees working on Google's Gemini AI models. In the same memo, Brin also blasted some Google employee for not doing enough to contribute. "A number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by," Brin wrote. "This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else." The memo doesn't apply to Google employees more broadly, according to the report. Google currently requires its employees to be in the office at least three days per week. The Post has reached out to Google for comment on the memo. Brin stepped down as Google's president in December 2019, but maintains a seat on its board of directors and has continued to play an active role in its AI development. The billionaire was listed as a "core contributor" on the original white paper for Google Gemini. Google is one of several tech giants competing to develop AGI, chatbots and other AI-centric products. OpenAI and Grok have each released major updates to their chatbots within the last week. And last month, DeepSeek sparked a $1 trillion selloff in US markets by unveiling an AI model it claimed to have trained for less than $6 million. With competition in full swing, top tech executives are ratcheting up pressure on their employees to deliver better results. Meta recently laid off about 4,000 employees, or 5% of its workforce, after identifying "low performers" within its ranks. At the same time, Mark Zuckerberg told Meta's workforce that he expects an "intense year" in the industry.

Sergey Brin pushes Google's AI team to the limit, says 60-hour workweeks are the sweet spot to win the AGI race

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has encouraged the AI team to work 60 hours a week to win the race to artificial general intelligence. He emphasized that 60 hours is the optimal productivity level and exceeding it could lead to burnout. Brin's message reflects a corporate trend of employees returning to the office full-time.Google co-founder Sergey Brin has a blunt message for the company's AI team: if they hope to win the race to artificial general intelligence (AGI), they'll have to work overtime, as per a report. According to the New York Times, Brin suggested in an internal memo that workers on Google's AI project, Gemini, come to the office every weekday and work for 60 hours per week, which he considers the "sweet spot" for productivity. He wrote in the memo that, several employees work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by, reported Fortune. He stated, "This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else," reported Fortune. He emphasized that 60 hours was best, but warned that working more than that could lead to burnout, as per the report. However, it is still longer than the standard practice of 40 hours work week, as per Fortune. Brin's message underscores the pressing need to develop artificial general intelligence or AGI, that's as intelligent as, or even smarter than humans. He wrote that "Competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to AGI is afoot," as per Fortune. He also added, "I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts." Apart from advocating for increased work hours, Brin also urged Gemini employees to increase coding productivity using the company's own AI technologies, another sign of how ingrained AI has become in Google operations. According to the report, despite the call for more hours, Brin's memo didn't indicate that Google's formal policy changed, which mandates employees be in the office a minimum of three days per week. Nevertheless, Brin's remarks highlighted a larger corporate America trend wherein numerous companies, such as Amazon, AT&T, and JPMorgan Chase, are calling for employees to come back into the office on a full-time basis. Does Brin want employees to work more than 60 hours? Brin warned that working more than 60 hours could lead to burnout. How does Brin want the team to increase productivity? In addition to longer hours, Brin is encouraging his team to use Google's own AI tools to boost coding efficiency.

Sergey Brin says 60-hour in-office weeks are key to Google's AI push

A hot potato: Sergey Brin, the billionaire who co-founded Google alongside Larry Page in 1998, isn't the biggest believer in the idea of a work-life balance. He says that in order for Google to come out on top in the ultra-competitive AI industry, employees should work no fewer than 60 hours per week, which Brin calls the "sweet spot of productivity." Brin called for Googlers working on the company's AI products to increase their hours in a memo seen by The New York Times. Sixty hours per week works out at 12 hours per day in the traditional Monday to Friday work week. Not surprisingly, Brin isn't a fan of working from home. Google is one of many companies that require workers to be in the office at least three days per week. However, Brin recommends being in the office "at least every weekday" - so at least he's okay with working from home on weekends. "A number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by," Brin wrote. "This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else." Brin did say that working more than 60 hours per week isn't advisable as it can lead to exhaustion (and possibly other health issues), though it's easy to imagine most people arguing that 60 hours per week would cause the same problem. Brin is cracking the whip in a push for Google to win the race in developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), which can understand and think like a human while exceeding human cognitive capabilities. "Competition has accelerated immensely, and the final race to AGI is afoot," Brin wrote in the memo. "I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts." Brin believes the key to Google developing AGI first - in addition to 60-hour-weeks and not working from home - is for programmers to increase their efficiency by using the company's own Gemini AI tools. Brin stepped down as Alphabet President in 2019, though he returned to take a role in Google's AI developments in 2023. It's unlikely that his memo is going to lead to CEO Sundar Pichai changing the work-from-home policy or increasing AI employees' minimum number of hours, but Brin still has influence at the company he co-founded. Brin isn't the only person in tech who thinks 40 to 50 hours in the office each week isn't enough. Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has called for 70-hour work weeks and said he does not "believe in work-life balance."

Google’s Sergey Brin Says Engineers Should Work 60-Hour Weeks in Office to Build AI That Could Replace Them

The Google co-founder says 60-hours a week is the productivity sweet spot for AI engineers. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has told engineers that they should return to the office five days a week to help improve AI models that could replicate their work. The reclusive billionaire himself started returning to Mountain View following the launch of ChatGPT, which left Google on its back foot and raised concerns the company had fallen behind on a technology that had been developed within its own walls but capitalized upon by an outside competitor. Now, Brin is trying to instill more urgency amongst employees, telling other Googlers working on AI that they must pick up the pace if they are going to win against the likes of OpenAI and Microsoft. "Competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to A.G.I. is afoot," he wrote in a memo seen by The New York Times that was directed at engineers working on Gemini, the name for its AI models and apps. "I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts." He added that "60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity." Brin wrote that engineers should use Google's own AI models for coding, saying doing so will make them "the most efficient coders and A.I. scientists in the world." The irony of Brin's call should not be lost on anyone. Generative artificial intelligence ingests large amounts of writing from the web and recognizes patterns to produce new writing, including code. Major companies like Salesforce and Klarna have been beating the drums on AI's ability to replicate engineers as the technology becomes better. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, outright said on the company's recent earnings call that it does not plan to hire engineers this year because of the success of AI agents created and used by the company. It is important to take these claims with a grain of salt, as leaders of these companies have incentives to slow hiring to save money and capitalize on investor excitement around AI. Code-writing bots may be good at improving efficiency by automating some boilerplate code, but skeptics say engineers need to understand the code to fix problems or make improvements (ironically, Anthropic asks applicants to certify they will not use AI in the application process). There are fears that some companies will replace humans with AI even if the technology performs worse because the cost savings will make it worth the trade-off. Proponents of AI say that the technology will lead to more work for engineers, not less, because it will enable companies to build more products on their roadmap that they did not have the time or resources for previously. Still, it is not hard to liken Brin's call to the manager who asks a senior employee to train their younger, more affordable replacement. Return-to-office has been a divisive issue not just in tech but across the entire global workforce, as corporate executives have sought to retake control from staff who were empowered during the pandemic. But it has especially been a lightning rod issue in Silicon Valley, where the products that enabled remote work, like Zoom, were built. Engineers historically wielded much power thanks to the high demand for talent, but years of mass layoffs following the pandemic have flipped the script, and most major tech companies have begun demanding employees back to the office, arguing doing so will lead to higher productivity.

Final AI race has begun: Tech giant Google co-founder Sergey Brin tells employees to step up or step out

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has urged employees working on the company's Gemini AI models to commit to a 60-hour workweek and daily office attendance. In an internal memo, Brin emphasised the need for increased effort as Google competes with OpenAI, Microsoft, and others in the race for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). His stance aligns with a growing trend of tech leaders advocating extended work hours, sparking debates on productivity, burnout, and work-life balance.Google's co-founder Sergey Brin has made his stance on work culture clear -- employees must put in more hours if they want to win the AI race. In a memo circulated internally, Brin urged those working on the Gemini AI models to commit to 60-hour workweeks and be present in the office every weekday. "I recommend being in the office at least every weekday," Brin wrote in the memo, first reported by The New York Times. He added, "60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity," but also warned that exceeding this threshold could lead to burnout. Brin criticised employees who were not meeting this expectation, stating, "A number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by. This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralising to everyone else." Brin's push comes at a time of intense competition in the AI sector, fuelled by the rapid rise of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which launched in 2022 and quickly amassed millions of users. Google has been playing catch-up, trying to solidify its leadership in artificial intelligence. "Competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to AGI is afoot," Brin wrote. "I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts." He also stressed the importance of leveraging AI to improve productivity, urging engineers to use Google's own AI tools to enhance their coding capabilities. "We need to become the most efficient coders and AI scientists in the world by using our own AI," he wrote. Despite Brin's directive, Google's official return-to-office policy remains unchanged. Employees are still required to work from the office at least three days a week. However, his memo underscores a broader trend of tech companies encouraging more in-person collaboration in an effort to boost productivity. Brin, who co-founded Google in 1998, stepped down from his leadership role in 2019 but remains actively involved, particularly in AI development. His estimated net worth stands at $144 billion. Brin's call for increased work hours is part of a wider trend among corporate leaders advocating for extended workweeks. In India, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy suggested a 70-hour workweek last year, arguing that young professionals should work longer to boost the country's economic growth. More recently, in January, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Chairman S N Subrahmanyan took it even further, controversially proposing a 90-hour workweek. "If I had my way, I would make people work on Sundays too," Subrahmanyan said during an employee interaction. He even questioned the time spent at home, reportedly stating, "How long can you stare at your wife?" -- a remark that sparked widespread backlash. While some industry leaders argue that longer hours are necessary to stay ahead in a competitive landscape, others advocate for a more balanced approach. Capgemini India's CEO, Ashwin Yardi, recently weighed in on the debate, suggesting that an ideal workweek should be around 47.5 hours -- far below the 60, 70, or even 90-hour weeks proposed by some executives. The debate over productivity versus burnout continues, with Brin's memo adding fuel to the fire. While some employees may embrace the challenge, others may push back, raising concerns about mental health and overall well-being in high-pressure workplaces. For now, Brin has made it clear: if Google wants to stay ahead in the AI race, it must work harder and faster.

Google Co-Founder Pushes AI Team to Work 60-Hour Weeks | PYMNTS.com

Google's co-founder has reportedly urged the company's artificial intelligence (AI) teams to "turbocharge" their work. Sergey Brin, who stepped down as Google's president in 2019 but retains a seat on the board, says that means coming into the office "at least every week day," working 60-hour weeks, and moving faster, The Verge reported Saturday (March 1), citing an internal memo. "It has been 2 years of the Gemini program and GDM [Google DeepMind]," Brin wrote. "We have come a long way in that time with many efforts we should feel very proud of. At the same time competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to AGI is afoot," he wrote, in reference to artificial general intelligence, a form of AI that can perform at or above the level of humans. "I think we have all the ingredients to win this race but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts," Brin added. The memo also called on AI workers stop "building nanny products" and "trust our users" more, with Brin arguing that the company's AI offerings were "overrun with filters and punts of various kinds." Brin's memo echoes comments from late last year by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who told employees that "the stakes are high" for the company this year. "I think 2025 will be critical," Pichai said, per audio obtained by CNBC. "I think it's really important we internalize the urgency of this moment, and need to move faster as a company. The stakes are high. These are disruptive moments. In 2025, we need to be relentlessly focused on unlocking the benefits of this technology and solve real user problems." In related news, PYMNTS spoke last week with Risto Uuk, head of EU policy and research at the Future of Life Institute, about efforts by Google and other tech giants to push back against Europe's AI regulations. "Certain big technology companies are coming out saying they either will not sign this code of practice unless it is changed according to what they want," Uuk said. As that report noted, the Future of Life Institute is perhaps best known in AI circles as the organization that circulated an open letter in 2023 advocating a six-month moratorium on advanced AI models until safety protocols were established. That letter, Uuk said, did not have the desired effect. "Many of these companies have not increased their safety work, which the 'pause' letter called for," he added. "The pause was not just for the sake of pausing, but you would use it to increase AI safety work, and this work, arguably, in many cases, has not happened."

Google Cofounder Exhorts Employees to Work 60-Hour Weeks to Create AI Designed to Replace Them

Over the past few years, the tech industry has gone from cushy landing pad for STEM grads to a cesspit of corporate greed, where grueling hours are commonplace, and layoffs could strike at any moment. Unfortunately for employees of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, the squeeze is just getting started. In an internal memo sent out Wednesday and obtained by the New York Times, Google cofounder Sergey Brin -- who's been mostly absent from the company since 2019, except when issuing edicts about the importance of AI -- made it clear he wants his peons to focus even harder on developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), the long-promised "next step" in AI intelligence. "I recommend being in the office at least every weekday," Brin wrote, implying that good employees should also spend a few weekends in the office. "60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity," Brin added, stating that a "number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by... This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else." Google's current policy only mandates three in-office days, so the boss' memo comes across as a heavy-handed suggestion -- especially at a corporation that's been criticized for unfairly distributing performance evaluations, leading to arbitrary layoffs. The haranguing is also a bit rich seeing as ultimately, the goal of AI tech is to replace the very workers building it -- assuming it ever gets that far, of course. "Competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to AGI is afoot," Brin wrote, simultaneously cracking the whip and hyping AI superintelligence, in a familiar register to other would-be AI moguls Sam Altman and Elon Musk. Should AGI ever arrive, it would have huge implications for labor and the broader economy. The trouble is, despite all the hype promising otherwise, there's little indication developers are actually closing in on the revolutionary tech. In fact, most evidence has instead been pointing toward a slowdown in AI progress. Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute -- and used to work on Google's ethical AI team, but was sacked by the company after publishing a paper highlighting the environmental, social, and financial risks posed by AI. "Because [those building AGI are] the loudest, and have the most money right now," Gebru continued, "they also influence any type of AI discourse because they try to make it look as if everything they're building is that -- AGI or has AGI characteristics." That certainly looks to be the case for Google, where billionaire executives employ vast armies of subcontractors to smooth over the rough edges of its increasingly expensive AI products. Whether AGI ever arrives or not, we can be sure the promise of it will be highly lucrative for tech moguls like Brin, and an ever-present carrot -- or perhaps stick -- to be dangled in front of the remaining Google employees desperately clinging to their jobs. It wasn't immediately clear how many hours a week Brin spends working in his office, as Google didn't respond to a request for comment.

Sergey Brin says AGI is within reach if Googlers work 60-hour weeks

Sergey Brin co-founded Google in the 1990s along with Larry Page, but both stepped away from the day to day at Google in 2019. However, the AI boom tempted Brin to return to the office, and he thinks everyone should follow his example. In a new internal memo, Brin has advised employees to be in the office every weekday so Google can win the AI race. Just returning to the office isn't enough for the Google co-founder. According to the memo seen by The New York Times, Brin says Googlers should try to work 60 hours per week to support the company's AI efforts. That works out to 12 hours per day, Monday through Friday, which Brin calls the "sweet spot of productivity." This is not a new opinion for Brin. Brin, like many in Silicon Valley, is seemingly committed to the dogma that the current trajectory of generative AI will lead to the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Such a thinking machine would be head and shoulders above current AI models, which can only do a good impression of thinking. An AGI would understand concepts and think more like a human being, which some would argue makes it a conscious entity. To hear Brin tell it, Google is in the best position to make this AI computing breakthrough. He cites the company's strong workforce of programmers and data scientists as the key, but he also believes the team must strive for greater efficiency by using Google's own Gemini AI tools as much as possible. Oh, and don't work from home. Brin and Page handed the reins to current CEO Sundar Pichai back in 2015, so his pronouncement doesn't necessarily signal a change to the company's current in-office policy. Google still operates on a hybrid model, with workers expected to be in the office three days per week. But as a founder, Brin's voice carries weight. We reached out to Google to ask if the company intends to reassess its policies, but a Google rep says there are no planned changes to the return-to-office mandate. Onward to the thinking machines Google constructed the foundation upon which all of today's generative AI bots were built, but it didn't realize that until OpenAI started adding bricks. Google's seminal 2017 research paper, titled Attention Is All You Need, laid out the transformer architecture that still powers large language models. In a mere 10 pages, Google changed the nature of computing, but it was caught flatfooted when OpenAI and Microsoft teamed up to roll out AI-powered tools to the masses. Google's hurried launch of the Bard AI in early 2023 was a mess, and it has been playing catch-up ever since. Following the Bard fiasco, Google has developed a single-minded obsession with adding generative AI to all its products, even if profitability remains elusive in the AI industry. OpenAI has used Microsoft Azure infrastructure for most of its computing needs, enjoying generous discounts in exchange for lending its technology to Copilot and Bing. Even with that benefit, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has admitted the company still loses money on its most expensive $200-per-month Pro subscription. Google, meanwhile, has spent at a feverish pace to build out AI data centers to train and run Gemini models. It doesn't have a lavishly expensive subscription tier like OpenAI, though. Most Gemini models are available for free, but even the more computationally intensive ones, like Gemini Pro Deep Research, are available for just $20 per month. Google is apparently willing to lose money on AI to secure market share. No one knows if piling up more and more GPUs to run ever-larger models will lead to AGI. However, Brin is not alone in thinking such an advance is within reach. Altman has also claimed OpenAI could be just a few years away from true artificial intelligence. Google's official blog posts have mentioned AGI as a goal on several occasions, as well. Even if AGI isn't attainable in the near future, business leaders have other reasons to want employees in the office -- it's a win-win for Google.

Google Cofounder Sergey Brin Thinks Gemini Employees Should Be Working '60 Hours' a Week (and Not Remotely), According to a Leaked Internal Memo

In a memo viewed by The New York Times and posted internally to employees working on Google's Gemini AI, company cofounder Sergey Brin wrote that staff should work much longer than a standard 40-hour workweek -- and all of it in the office. "60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity," he wrote. "I recommend being in the office at least every weekday." Related: Jeff Bezos Still Uses One of Famous Amazon 'Door Desks' From the '90s -- Here's Why Brin's memo comes at a time when competition for AI talent, resources, and spending in Silicon Valley is at a fever pitch. So much so that it brought the tech billionaire back to the office "pretty much every day" working on AI. Brin is currently the No. 9 richest person in the world with a net worth of $145 billion, per Bloomberg. This means he also expects employees to put in the work, per the memo. "A number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by," he wrote. "This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else." Related: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Regrets Cursing at Company Town Hall But Stands By Return-to-Office Mandate: 'We're Not Going to Change' Google's current return-to-office (RTO) policy is a hybrid schedule that requires employees to be in the office at least three days a week. "I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts," Brin wrote. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment to the Times. Related: 'Working the Weekend Is a Superpower': Elon Musk Says DOGE Is Working '120 Hour' Weeks

Google co-founder Sergey Brin reckons the next big leap in AI is possible - but only if we all ditch working from home

After stepping away from the company in 2019, Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently returned to the tech giant to work in-person and he's now asking all workers to consider doing the same. Brin believes that, with the right resources, the company can win the AI race, but that means workers are being urged not only to return to the office but to consider doing longer 60-hour weeks (which works out to be 12 hours a day over five days). The big ask comes as Bein views Google as being in a great position for a breakthrough in artificial general intelligence. Brin isn't the only leader to suggest longer working hours could be beneficial - Infosys CEO Narayana Murthy said the company's workers should consider giving up 70 hours a week (14 hours a day) to help boost productivity and lift India out of poverty. Even though the Google co-founder believes longer hours could be the answer the company's been looking for, he also indicated that employees should use Gemini and other AI tools where possible to enhance efficiency - meaning workers' outputs could far exceed the 60 physical hours he wants them to put in. He also praised the company's workers and celebrated its strong programmers and data scientists. Though many of Google's rivals have started to implement full-time office-working policies, Google still operates on a three-day-per-week hybrid policy. It's unclear whether Google will follow suit, but it's unlikely that Brin's 60-hour week will reach the level of implementation. Still, his influence as a founder could carry some weight. Despite the turbulent and slightly problematic launch of Bard in 2023, Google has ramped up its AI efforts, and the Gemini rebrand potentially looks to distance the company's artificial intelligence from earlier versions. However Google - and/or its rivals - will meet artificial general intelligence, where capabilities can surpass human intelligence, is not yet determined, but with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also striving for AGI, the technology is certainly becoming within reach.

Google Co-Founder Says 60-Hour Weeks Needed to Achieve AGI

Google co-founder Sergey Brin says Google could achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) if employees worked harder and were in the office more, saying: "Sixty hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity." AGI is a type of AI that matches or even surpasses human cognitive abilities. AGI can understand and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks like a human, rather than across a limited set of use cases. In an internal memo first spotted by The New York Times and sent to employees working on Gemini, Google's suite of AI products, Brin said: "Competition has accelerated immensely, and the final race to AGI is afoot." He added: "I think we have all the ingredients to win this race, but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts." Brin hit out at employees he doesn't think are pulling their weight, singling out those who "work less than 60 hours" and "a small number [who] put in the bare minimum to get by." He called those doing the bare minimum "not only unproductive but also highly demoralizing to everyone else." Brin also recommended that employees trek to the office at least every weekday, contrary to Google's official return-to-the-office policy, which mandates three days a week on-site. Google's AI staffers are apparently already familiar with brutal workloads. Google's search boss, Prabhakar Raghavan, claimed that Gemini staff were at one point putting in 120 hours a week to fix a flaw in Google's image recognition tool, according to a CNBC report. Google isn't the only company making pronouncements about the impending arrival of AGI, with staff feeling under intense pressure in the process. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in January that OpenAI is "now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it," and that in the next few years, "everyone will see what we see." Meanwhile, some of OpenAI's technical staff have highlighted six-day weeks and 10-hour-plus days in their resignation messages. Employees at Elon Musk's start-up xAI have also disclosed 12-hour-plus working days. Musk himself has pegged the arrival of AGI at some point in 2026 in interviews. The jury is still out on whether AGI is even a realistic short-term goal in the first place. Many in the AI community are more pessimistic about the AGI dream. Gary Marcus, professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University, has directly critiqued the claims of tech CEOs like Altman, pointing out the numerous technical issues holding back the development of true AGI.

Google co-founder says 60-hour workweek the 'sweet spot' for productivity

Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, claims that a 60-hour workweek is the "sweet spot" for productivity in a recent memo sent to employees. In the note, shared internally and viewed by the New York Times, Brin urges staff working on Google's Gemini AI projects to put in long hours to help the company lead the race in artificial general intelligence (AGI). His suggestion sparked mixed reaction. Some have praised Brin's commitment to pushing the company's success, but others argue that his approach reflects an outdated and harmful mindset. "The hustle-centric 60-hour week isn't productivity -- it's burnout waiting to happen," wrote workplace mental health educator Catherine Eadie in a post shared by LinkedIn's news editors. Others said they feel that hard work is essential for success, with a COO of a business analytics business writing, "Brin is just being honest -- successful people have always put in long hours." But for some, the irony is too much to ignore. "It's strange to push for longer hours when the very AI models they're building might replace their jobs," wrote a marketing executive in a post highlighted by LinkedIn's news editors.

Sergey Brin says RTO is key to Google winning the AGI race | TechCrunch

Google co-founder Sergey Brin sent a memo to employees this week urging them to return to the office "at least every weekday" in order to help the company win the AGI race, The New York Times reports. Brin told employees that working 60 hours a week is a "sweet spot" for productivity. While Brin's memo is not an official policy change for Google, which requires workers to come to work in person three days a week, it does show the pressure Silicon Valley giants are feeling to compete in AI. The memo also indicates that Brin believes Google could build AGI, a superintelligent AI system on par with human intelligence. Brin has reportedly returned to Google in recent years to help the company regain its footing in the AI race. Google was caught by surprise by OpenAI's 2022 release of ChatGPT, but has worked diligently to catch up with industry leading AI models of its own.