Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai pushes back on AI job loss fears

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has downplayed fears that artificial intelligence (AI) could eliminate large numbers of jobs at the company.

In a Bloomberg interview in San Francisco, Pichai responded to concerns that AI might eventually make half of Alphabet’s 180,000-person workforce obsolete, stating instead that the company is on track for further growth.

“I expect we will grow from our current engineering phase even into next year because it allows us to do more,” Pichai said.

He emphasised that AI is improving engineering productivity by removing repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on more meaningful and innovative work.

According to Pichai, AI should be viewed as an accelerator, not a replacement, contributing to new product development and increased demand for talent.

While Alphabet has seen several rounds of layoffs in recent years, including 12,000 jobs cut in 2023 and another 1,000 in 2024, Pichai noted that recent job reductions in 2025 have been more targeted.

These include fewer than 100 roles in the cloud division and a few hundred in the platforms and devices unit.

Pichai also pointed to Alphabet’s expanding ventures such as autonomous vehicle subsidiary Waymo, quantum computing efforts, and the ongoing growth of YouTube.

He also highlighted that in India alone, YouTube now hosts 100 million channels, with over 15,000 channels having more than 1 million subscribers.