Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc., affirmed the company's commitment to expanding its engineering workforce at least into 2026, despite significant investments in artificial intelligence and a trend of tech industry layoffs. Speaking at the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco on June 5, 2025, Pichai emphasized that human talent remains crucial even as AI capabilities advance. Google plans to grow its engineering base to capitalize on emerging opportunities, bucking the trend seen with other tech leaders like Microsoft Corp. that have trimmed staff partly due to AI investments.

Pichai elaborated that this strategy is not about AI replacing engineers but rather enhancing their productivity. "I just view this as making engineers dramatically more productive, getting a lot of the mundane aspects out of what they do," he stated. He expects Alphabet to grow from its current engineering base into the next year, allowing the company "to do more with the opportunity space," even though Google itself has conducted layoffs in recent years to reallocate resources.

Presenting a balanced view, Pichai was optimistic about AI's potential while acknowledging its current limitations. He noted that while AI excels in areas like coding, the models continue to make basic mistakes. Regarding the pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI) – AI performing on par with humans – Pichai commented, "So are we currently on an absolute path to AGI? I don’t think anyone can say for sure."

Addressing concerns from publishers about Google's AI-generated search answers potentially reducing website traffic, Pichai reiterated Google's dedication to directing users to original content. "Compared to most companies in the world, we take care to design an experience which is going to showcase links," he said. He mentioned that AI Overviews were extensively tested, prioritizing approaches that resulted in high-quality outbound traffic, and expressed confidence that this commitment will continue.

When asked about the qualities of Google's next CEO, Pichai, who has led the company since 2015 with a strong focus on AI, quipped: "Whoever is running it will have an extraordinary AI companion."

The Bloomberg Tech conference also featured other industry discussions. Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth spoke about a cultural shift in Silicon Valley, indicating increased receptiveness towards supporting US military efforts. This coincided with Meta's recent announcement of a partnership with defense contractor Anduril Industries Inc. to develop products for the US military, including an AI-powered helmet with virtual and augmented reality features. The summit was also set to feature Anduril’s co-founder Trae Stephens and Perplexity AI Inc. Chief Executive Officer Aravind Srinivas.