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

midian182

midian182

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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 real person 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."

Masthead: Thomas Hawk

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

 
So let's get this right, Goolge CEO fired thousands of employees last year, used the money to pay himself the biggest annual bonus, now wants those who left to carry all the load, for minimum wages, 60 hours a week, to advance AI, so in the end they too lose their jobs to the same AI?

What other brilliant ideas should we heed from these billionaires? I see the disturbing rise in such ideas on the Internet, coming from billionaires, on how to exploit the poor to their limit. And they use words like "work ethics" and "commitment", to hide the meaning of "slavery".
 
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"May I Sir?"
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"You May..."
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Sergey Brin you are a piece of sh*t!

Firstly get your head out of your a** and read some research that clearly states after 6hrs performance at work drops by x percent, then after 8hrs it drops even further making it the worse decision ever for people to work 10+ hr shifts. Work safety also goes out the door past the 8hr mark. People make errors, bad decisions, poor choices, and then people get injured or killed on the job. - the IQ of these rich people must be the equivalent of a peanut 🥜
 
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VitalyT said:
So let's get this right, Goolge CEO fired thousands of employees last year, used the money to pay himself the biggest annual bonus, now wants those who left to carry all the load, for minimum wages, 60 hours a week, to advance AI, so in the end they too lose their jobs to the same AI?

What other brilliant ideas should we heed from these billionaires? I see the disturbing rise in such ideas on the Internet, coming from billionaires, on how to exploit the poor to their limit. And they use words like "work ethics" and "commitment", to hide the meaning of "slavery".
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LOL calm down a bit :)
Those working for Google most definitely don't do it "for minimum wages", and are not some poor outcasts of fortune exploited by evil capitalists.
Everyone working for themselves works more than 60 hours and considers it perfectly normal. People in tech make comparable money on average, but without taking any risks.
 
winjer said:
I swear most of these CEOs are sociopaths, that would endorse slavery in a heart beat.
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You don't need to be humble or doubt that for a second. Over history and even recently many have shown repeatedly, and even openly and shamelessly that they clearly are.
 
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60hour work week? Sergey Brin needs to pull his head out of the ground and his bum. Most people have a personal life. Go play in a swamp Sergey.
 
It happens with the best of us. Money ****s up the brain. Big money do that big time. He has long forgotten what salary looks like and why people work.
 
8 hours a day for 5 days a week must be standardized and nothing over that should be considered legal. Otherwise, you get Elon Musks and Sergei Brins asking people to become slaves.
Why waste time going home and coming back when you could sleep on the floor at work and save time the next day, huh?
Sergei must be prosecuted if this becomes the norm at Alphabet.
 
3ogdy said:
8 hours a day for 5 days a week must be standardized and nothing over that should be considered legal.
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Even that is too much. My employer will never get more than 30 hours a week. This will not change and they know it. Personally, I think we should institute a 5 or 6 hour work day with ANY time over that paid at quadruple the normal pay rate.

That would shut those greedy boneheads up very swiftly.

3ogdy said:
Why waste time going home and coming back when you could sleep on the floor at work and save time the next day, huh?
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Please don't give employers crazy idea's like that, they'll try it.
 
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ZedRM said:
Even that is too much. My employer will never get more than 30 hours a week. This will not change and they know it. Personally, I think we should institute a 5 or 6 hour work day with ANY time over that paid at quadruple the normal pay rate.
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You're right and there's definitely a change for the better that's happening, with governments considering 37,5 h work weeks. We'll see if we actually manage to make it all work.
 
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3ogdy said:
You're right and there's definitely a change for the better that's happening, with governments considering 37,5 h work weeks. We'll see if we actually manage to make it all work.
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If companies were smart(!?) they would reduce operating shifts to 6.5hours(with two 15min breaks after 2hours or 30min break in the middle of the shift) and run 3 shifts per day with an off time at night to take care of maintenance concerns.

They would have happier employees and more efficient operating facilities, which would naturally be more cost effective.
 
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